Principles of Discipline #4

I would like to remind you to send the "picking up trash" photo this week with your name, your telephone or email address, and your child’s first name for our ‘pick up the trash’ musical toad give-a-way. My email is eileen@toadhousepublishing.com and my telephone number is 715-532-3209. I will contact you with how you can receive your musical toad. I need your submission by this Friday, April 22^nd.

We are on to the fourth principle of discipline: Change the environment instead of the behavior. There many times when a challenging behavior can be eliminated just by changing the way the environment is set up. For instance, what happens when you give a two-year-old a full glass of milk--in a tall, skinny glass? What are the chances that your table and floor come away unscathed?

What can you do change the environment without saying a single word to the child? You can put the milk into a shorter cup with a wide sturdy bottom. While you're at it, you a can also fill the cup only half full or less. Pouring less milk into the cup than you think your child will drink also builds in more practice at a conversation by giving you both something to chat about. I would also guess your little one will consume more milk this way.

Here is another example: Your eighteen-month-old grabs your six-year-old's hair with his sticky fingers at supper. Your daughter screams and the toddler laughs. He reaches again for another fist full of hair and in so doing knocks his plate of spaghetti to the floor. How do you prevent this calamity from occurring? (hint: change the environment!)

The sun comes up

with its great big smile

And shines on the ground

for just a little while.

It warms up the flowers

that are planted below

And helps them to grow

and grow and grow.

Pantomime motions