There are two areas over which parents have no control: getting a child to eat, and choosing a child's friends.  Today, we'll look at fussy eaters.  You know them well; they don't like what you're serving and expect you to get them something else.  if you do this, you are setting yourself up for problems--problems that don't easily go away.

If a child doesn't like what you're serving, don't make a big deal over it.  Let the child know what the choices are for food this meal.  If he or she doesn't like it, your child is free to go to his or her room until the meal is over.  What would he or she like to do, stay at the table and eat with the family, or go to the bedroom.  Either way, it's the child's choice so it won't create a battlescene at the table.

If the child leaves ...   more »

Take the pointer finger of your right hand and draw a large, imaginary figure eight on it's side on the wall.  Make sure you're crossing over your mid-line, moving your finger way over to the left and then, over to the right.  Do this three times with each hand, and then three times with both hands.  It will help you and your child focus more and remember better what you read.   more »

If you have a child who seems to take forever to do something, wait until he or she wants to do something, like watch TV, play a computer game, visit a friend, play outside, etc.  Then say,

"You know, I've noticed you really like to pick up your clothes slowly, or get dressed slowly, or clean the kitchen slowly.  Before you do what you want, I made a bet with myself about how slow you can do something.  I'm going to give you a task to do and I want you to do it only in slow motion.  I'll time you and then see if you could move as slow as I think you can."  If you do it in less time than I think, you'll have it to do it as fast as you can next time. Do you think you can do it really slow?

Then, give the child ...   more »

The Parenting Process has a great article on dealing with a child's negative behaviors while eating in a restaurant.  Good common sense approach for parents to become more successful at helpin g their children to behave.   more »

Fiona Gibson wrote a great article on children fighting with one another. I think you'll find it useful.

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If you have siblings who fight often, put yourself into super nanny mode and tell them calmly to do the following:

Sit down on the floor, cross-legged facing each other.  You have to keep your hands in your lap and not touch the other person or he will win.  Now, stare at each other for awhile.  Let your eyes show your sibling how angry you are.  great!  Now, make the silliest face you can at the other person without making any noise.

Give a couple more silly suggestions and you will usually see the children laughing instead of staying angry.  When this happens, you know you have stepped into your super nanny shoes, feeling more confident and successful as a  parent

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Parents who act like a super nanny have an amazing ability to take a child's negative behavior and tunr it into something positive.  Here's a suggestion for dealing with children who love to mind everyone else's business and tatle on them:

Tell your child in the mornng you're puttigng him or her in charge of counting the number of times, people in the family smile, burp, say thinak you, etc.  At the end of the day, the child will report to you that one behavior.  If the child. comes to you about soemthing else, calmly remind him or her they are only in charge of the behavior chosen for that day.  Anything else doesn't count.

Try it and see what happens.  I'm sure you'll feel more confident as a super nanny parent.

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One of the ways to act like a super nanny with your kids is to remain calm, even when you’re not in the eye of the storm.  If children know they can upset you, they begin to think they’re in control, instead of you.  This article gives you some ideas for responding like a super nanny when your child says to you in loud, plain language, “It’s not fair!”

 

The only thing you have to do is to:

1. remain calm
2. Remember your child is not happy with you right now
3. Don’t put salt into his or her wounds by being upset, angry or sarcastic
4. Look at your child with understanding eyes (not angry ones)
5. And softly say these two words and ONLT these two:  “I know”.

 

Whatever comes out of your child’s mouth to explain why he or she should be allowed to do something ...   more »