Sharing The Best Resources & Tools

CAROLE AND NADIM SAAD, CO-FOUNDERS OF BEST OF PARENTING

As the parents of three children, struggling like so many others to find a balanced and effective parenting style, we turned away from all the parenting fads and studied the hard scientific evidence on what really works. The techniques we learnt were so life changing, yet so straightforward, that we made it our mission to convert them into powerful step by step tools and make them available to parents world over. Read more about the philosophy behind Best of Parenting.

Sharing The Best Resources & Tools

CAROLE AND NADIM SAAD, CO-FOUNDERS OF BEST OF PARENTING

As the parents of three children, struggling like so many others to find a balanced and effective parenting style, we turned away from all the parenting fads and studied the hard scientific evidence on what really works. The techniques we learnt were so life changing, yet so straightforward, that we made it our mission to convert them into powerful step by step tools and make them available to parents world over. Read more about the philosophy behind Best of Parenting.

Siblings fighting over who gets to do things first

December 17th, 2013 | 3 to 6 years | Short Tips and Quotes | Sibling Squabbles

Brothers and sisters are naturally competitive, both between each other and also when vying for their parent’s attention. Often, we inadvertently encourage this attitude by encouraging one child to follow his or her sibling’s lead. The trick is to stop making comparisons between our children and encourage them to cooperate with one another instead.

Here is a sample of some of our easy and effective tools for solving this issue

This works really well:

EMPATHY AND VALIDATION:

  • Tell your children that you can understand why they’d want to be first, but unfortunately, this time it’s either: a.not possible, or b.that they should agree to take turns.
  • When children feel that their frustrations have been heard, and more importantly understood, they often calm down enough to listen to reason.
  • Learning to take turns is an invaluable lesson in how to live in civilised society!

Here is another suggestion:

GIVE A CHOICE:

  • Allow your children to feel some control over their lives by asking them to choose between two options (that suit you of course).
  • For example:. “Do you want to go first this time or would you rather let your brother and sister go before you, which means that you will go first next time”?
  • This ‘either, or’ tactic has the advantage of putting our children in “thinking mode” rather than “opposition mode”.
  • We encourage you to use ‘Give a Choice’ as often as you can, your children will feel more respected and will listen, which will prevent many power struggles in the future.

Then you could try:

TOSS A COIN

  • If you only have 2 children, tossing a coin (or a similar game) is the easiest way to determine who goes first.
  • Although initially there may be a sore loser the first few times that you use this tactic, children tend to look forward to this solution!
  • Tossing a coin is an excellent way for children to learn that in life sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses!

 

These are just a few examples of our Best of Parenting Tools. You can find more ideas and solutions to typical parenting challenges in our book ‘Kids Don’t Come With a Manual – The Essential Guide to a Happy Family Life‘. 

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Siblings fighting over who gets to do things first

December 17th, 2013 | 3 to 6 years | Sibling Squabbles

Brothers and sisters are naturally competitive, both between each other and also when vying for their parent’s attention. Often, we inadvertently encourage this attitude by encouraging one child to follow his or her sibling’s lead. The trick is to stop making comparisons between our children and encourage them to cooperate with one another instead.

Here is a sample of some of our easy and effective tools for solving this issue

This works really well:

EMPATHY AND VALIDATION:

  • Tell your children that you can understand why they’d want to be first, but unfortunately, this time it’s either: a.not possible, or b.that they should agree to take turns.
  • When children feel that their frustrations have been heard, and more importantly understood, they often calm down enough to listen to reason.
  • Learning to take turns is an invaluable lesson in how to live in civilised society!

Here is another suggestion:

GIVE A CHOICE:

  • Allow your children to feel some control over their lives by asking them to choose between two options (that suit you of course).
  • For example:. “Do you want to go first this time or would you rather let your brother and sister go before you, which means that you will go first next time”?
  • This ‘either, or’ tactic has the advantage of putting our children in “thinking mode” rather than “opposition mode”.
  • We encourage you to use ‘Give a Choice’ as often as you can, your children will feel more respected and will listen, which will prevent many power struggles in the future.

Then you could try:

TOSS A COIN

  • If you only have 2 children, tossing a coin (or a similar game) is the easiest way to determine who goes first.
  • Although initially there may be a sore loser the first few times that you use this tactic, children tend to look forward to this solution!
  • Tossing a coin is an excellent way for children to learn that in life sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses!

 

These are just a few examples of our Best of Parenting Tools. You can find more ideas and solutions to typical parenting challenges in our book ‘Kids Don’t Come With a Manual – The Essential Guide to a Happy Family Life‘. 

Loading...

Siblings fighting over who gets to do things first

December 17th, 2013 | 3 to 6 years | Short Tips and Quotes | Sibling Squabbles

Brothers and sisters are naturally competitive, both between each other and also when vying for their parent’s attention. Often, we inadvertently encourage this attitude by encouraging one child to follow his or her sibling’s lead. The trick is to stop making comparisons between our children and encourage them to cooperate with one another instead.

Here is a sample of some of our easy and effective tools for solving this issue

This works really well:

EMPATHY AND VALIDATION:

  • Tell your children that you can understand why they’d want to be first, but unfortunately, this time it’s either: a.not possible, or b.that they should agree to take turns.
  • When children feel that their frustrations have been heard, and more importantly understood, they often calm down enough to listen to reason.
  • Learning to take turns is an invaluable lesson in how to live in civilised society!

Here is another suggestion:

GIVE A CHOICE:

  • Allow your children to feel some control over their lives by asking them to choose between two options (that suit you of course).
  • For example:. “Do you want to go first this time or would you rather let your brother and sister go before you, which means that you will go first next time”?
  • This ‘either, or’ tactic has the advantage of putting our children in “thinking mode” rather than “opposition mode”.
  • We encourage you to use ‘Give a Choice’ as often as you can, your children will feel more respected and will listen, which will prevent many power struggles in the future.

Then you could try:

TOSS A COIN

  • If you only have 2 children, tossing a coin (or a similar game) is the easiest way to determine who goes first.
  • Although initially there may be a sore loser the first few times that you use this tactic, children tend to look forward to this solution!
  • Tossing a coin is an excellent way for children to learn that in life sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses!

 

These are just a few examples of our Best of Parenting Tools. You can find more ideas and solutions to typical parenting challenges in our book ‘Kids Don’t Come With a Manual – The Essential Guide to a Happy Family Life‘. 

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Related articles: