As parents we often talk at our kids, telling them to stop doing something or to do something we want them to do. But we should be talking to them and not just correcting behavior or directing them all the time. The solution?

Try using different strategies, such as play, distraction, humour, games or contests to motivate your little one when it’s time to brush teeth or get ready for bed. Not everything has to be boring–it’s important to add a little fun sometimes! Here are some examples:

1.How to make hair-brushing less horrible:
Little girls with long hair can make hair-brushing seem like torture, crying and screaming “You’re hurting meeee! Stop it!” These daily fits can be so exhausting, it can sometimes seem better just to leave her hair looking like a bird’s nest. We often resort to angry threats that we’re going to take her to the hairdresser and have it cut short. What we need to do is stay neutral (and use a good de-tangler) along with imaginary play. You might, for example, ask your child to pretend she’s a princess and you are a friendly ogre, or a nice witch who has to brush her hair to undo a spell.

2. Ending bath-time battles:
For bathing or tooth-brushing, use superhero images to get your little boy to comply. Add some intrigue, imagination and excitement to the task, pretend the bathtub is a raft on a river or the shower is a waterfall in the rainforest. Be sure to choose a theme that’s fun and appealing for your child and make it a game. Using play will help change the behavior and create new habits so that, over time, you will no longer need to do it. In fact, you’ll be amazed how well this strategy can work. It’s also a nice way to connect with your child, and it may even be fun for you too!

Jennifer Kolari is a child and parent therapist, and founder of Connected Parenting. For more information you can contact jennifer at [email protected] or visit www.connectedparenting.com.

Tags: get kids to cooperate, getting kids to listen, making chores fun, play with kids, talking to kids

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Jennifer's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.