“I have a 3½ -year-old, 2½-year-old, and 6-month-old – so I’m a little busy to say the least! Thanks for your great advice in Kids: The Manual. I found that I’m already doing a lot of the “right” things, so that was reassuring! I feel a lot of the strategies in the book are more appropriate for older children, so hopefully they will help me avoid making parenting mistakes as the kids get older.
A few ideas I’ve found helpful include:
– Using natural consequences more. If they won’t eat, then I don’t force the issue anymore – they eat what’s offered or go hungry. (If they genuinely don’t like something I’m a bit more lenient – but they have to at least taste it first!) Allowing them to be more involved in meal preparation and giving them greater control over what they choose to eat has made an enormous difference – my boys will actually eat salad sandwiches for lunch by choice!
– Using a timer for time-out.
– Automatic time-outs have been helpful for my 3½ -year-old, who insists on standing right in front of the TV to watch it – he gets one warning, then every time after that he goes to time-out for 1 minute.
Thanks again, and keep up the good work!”