My work husband Erin told me a great story about her kids the other day (again, I'll get her to write the book). The kids were just having one of those days. Her solution? An expectations exercise. Can you tell we work in HR? She calmly discussed they were going to be a happy family that day. And what does a happy family look like? She described sharing, using inside voices, kindly playing with their toys. After the expectation sharing was complete, she pulled out two pieces of yellow construction paper and had them sign on the dotted line - really a scribble as they are both 3 and just over 1. Both kids were signing up to the agreement. The day turned around and they had a blast!
We were on a nanny search, which was successfully completed, and we had to give some thought to our parenting style. And, now, we tell the nanny, "When all else fails whip out the yellow construction paper contract". Seems like it has the promise of working as opposed to the excessively loud and disproportionate consequences.
Here's to our child idol below. Our wish for Brecken: Respectfully appropriate yet allowed a personality!
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