Featuring Joy & Geoff, Big Brother , Little Brother , Sis , and various household (and outdoor) critters...

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Re-Phrasing, Personal Space, and the Whirlwind Child

Does anyone have fantastic suggestions that might help a 4 year-old move from:

"You have to..."
"Can you please..." (stated with an authoritarian, "I'm telling you, not asking you" tone)
"Do this" (and variations of the command statement, like, "Hide somewhere else.")
"No! No! No!" (shrieking)
"Stop!"
"Hey!"
"But, I was just..." (often with a hysterical/whiny quality)
"I'm going to..."
"Because..."
"I don't know..."
[whack/punch/grab]
[loud, dramatic fake crying...over pretty much anything that isn't going his way]

...toward something more like:

"Why don't we..."
"Let's..."
"How about..."
"What do you think about..."
"Maybe we could try..."
"Do you think it would work if we..."
"May I please..."
"Hmm, let me see."
"I need a minute..."
"I feel..."

1 comment:

Gwen said...

Can't help laughing.... these are the questions that have me stumped, too.

No idea. NO FREAKING IDEA!!!

But you'll be in my thoughts & prayers as we both try to figure it out! :D