Who's Teaching Whom?

Kids! Kids are wonderful little bursts of energy. They give us spirit and strength and fulfill our days with spontaneous, happy moments. There is no doubt that we would rather satisfy each moment with doing whatever it takes to keep our children happy. But how do we do this without giving in to the demands of attention?

It is important that we establish early on the relationship we want to have with our children. The question “who's teaching whom?” comes into play even as early as infancy!  The reason we use the words “teach” versus “control”, is because we want to teach our children to communicate with us by other means besides crying, tantruming, pulling and screaming….but hey at the end of an exhausting day who wants to listen to their child cry? We don't want to control them, but we don't want them to control us.

Children learn at a very early age - and by early, we mean right out of the womb - that it is quite easy to get what they want through crying and sometimes a good tantrum. As years pass, this tendency only strengthens and often control is lost. As a parent, finding the balance between nurturing and over nurturing can cause major communication deficiencies. Parents tend to give in to the needs of their children before they even have a chance to communicate what they need.

We want to discourage this behavior which is why we have quite a few great tips to help kickstart a healthy communicative relationship with your child. To read more about this, visit the Playing With Words 365 website. They have a great article called "How to Help Your Child Talk: Providing Opportunities for Communication in Daily Activities".