Toddler Tricks - 80: Use the Television

Problem:

Twofold...one, your kid continues to do something she's not supposed to do. Two, you're not sure if all your talking at her is sticking. She seems to understand everything you say, down to the very subtle nuances of conversation, but when it comes to "don't do that," she pulls a blank face. Maybe she really doesn't yet understand? Haha, no. Maybe she's reached the age of selective hearing. Time to gear up.

Solution:

Use those mindless TV shows to your advantage. Your child is going to remember little fun details about pieces of the shows, and Lord knows, you'll have memorized them too at this point. These days kids' shows are always trying to teach some lesson (unless it's Max and Ruby, which, don't get me started). In our house, we watch primarily PBS, so those are the shows we all know the best. Use a few lines of the dialogue from the show or one of its songs to get your point across and make it memorable.

In my case, my child did this for me. I told her not to touch my wine glass.

"But, Mama, I have to touch the wine glass, it's in my story, see? Dulce touches the wine glass."

This is Super Why, and luckily for me, the point of that whole bit is to change the story and save the day!

Knowing this, I was able to step right into character, and what would have been tense discipline turned into a fun game in which no wine was spilled.

"Okay, then," I said, "let's change one of the words in the story. Should wine glass be "couch," "oven," or "shelf? Let's try oven. Dulce touches the oven?"

"No!" the girls shout delightedly.

"Dulce touches the couch?"

And they gleefully ran and touched the couch.

"With our power to read, we have changed the story and saved the day!"

And in this manner, not only did I get across to them that they couldn't touch the glass, I was also able to check on other lessons I had taught them throughout their lives.

And they got to play the whole time. Double win.

___
If you like this blog, please vote for it here at Babble's Top 100 Blogs list.