I’m always amazed at the creativity of children’s minds when it comes to “playing“ their parents or other care givers.  They play so emotional mind games on the adults who don’t even have a clue as to what’s going on.  Remember when I talked about the importance of giving children choices instead of ordering them to do something?

Well, if you ignore this message of caution, your children will react to you in some passive aggressive way that you may not even notice.  It doesn’t matter—for they notice it and they score a point.

Oh, didn’t I tell you about the point system?

Children and parents play this game (Usually unconsciously) where they work at getting the most points.  Each time a child gets a parent upset, the child wins a point.  Each ...   more »