(July 9, 2013 at 9:44 am)BadWriterSparty Wrote: This is the biggest thing we are impressing upon my daughter right now. We have been able to cut temper tantrums down by about 70% because she's learning how to ask for what she wants, and she can tell us when she's frustrated about something.
It's important to impress upon kids to try and explain their feelings with words.
This reminds me of when I went to pick up my son from his grandmother's a few days ago. She left before we did, so there was no reason for him to want to be there. He was fine with leaving, but when I put him in the car seat he started screaming and flailing his arms and legs. I asked him why he was upset, but he just continued to scream. Then, in a somewhat forceful manner, I told him to stop and asked him why he was upset. He stopped kicking and screaming, and with tears pouring down his face he mumbled, "Because." Then he started buckling himself into the car seat and was fine. As soon as he started thinking about why he was doing what he was doing, he realized he didn't really have a reason to be upset.
Sometimes I think our biggest failures as parents can be not giving children the credit they deserve.
