So, little 4 year old jimmy is standing on a chair and dancing, when you find him.
You bring him down from there and tell him not to do it again, because he may fall and hurt himself badly.
5 minutes later, you find him doing the exact same thing.
You bring him down again and now you raise your voice a bit and let him know that he cannot stand on the chair. You take away the music and the toy he has in his hand.
5 minutes later, he's back there.
So, as a parent, would you rather keep defying odds and keep finding him defying gravity or would you prefer to instill in him the fear of you finding he's dancing in a tall place which he knows (or has been told and has minimally understood) that's potentially bad for him?
Or... please share your ideas on dealing with a kid like this, if you find this is a false dichotomy (which it most likely is!)
Consider the not so distant time when he'll figure out that he can stack chairs or stools and climb them so he can be even higher...
The same for properly packing or storing toys left on the floor where people, including him, can trip, slip and fall.... and so many other situations where, at a young age, hypothetical consequences are less considered than the overseer threat and very possible action...
You bring him down from there and tell him not to do it again, because he may fall and hurt himself badly.
5 minutes later, you find him doing the exact same thing.
You bring him down again and now you raise your voice a bit and let him know that he cannot stand on the chair. You take away the music and the toy he has in his hand.
5 minutes later, he's back there.
So, as a parent, would you rather keep defying odds and keep finding him defying gravity or would you prefer to instill in him the fear of you finding he's dancing in a tall place which he knows (or has been told and has minimally understood) that's potentially bad for him?
Or... please share your ideas on dealing with a kid like this, if you find this is a false dichotomy (which it most likely is!)
Consider the not so distant time when he'll figure out that he can stack chairs or stools and climb them so he can be even higher...
The same for properly packing or storing toys left on the floor where people, including him, can trip, slip and fall.... and so many other situations where, at a young age, hypothetical consequences are less considered than the overseer threat and very possible action...
