When our children behave inappropriately, we may lecture them and sometimes shout at them to try to ensure that they don’t repeat the same behaviour again. The problem with this is that it rarely works. Because when we start shouting at or lecturing our children, they will usually ‘switch off’ and will seldom remember what we are trying to teach them.

So the next time you find yourself in this situation, instead of losing your temper, try using the ‘Rewind’ technique, and give your child the opportunity to redo things in a more appropriate manner. For example, if your child speaks to you disrespectfully, you can clearly say ‘Rewind!’, which is a signal for them to ‘do-over’ what they just did – and you can explain this to them at a different time. So in this case it would be saying the same thing in a more respectful way.

This technique is incredibly simple, but yields great results and is a really effective way of teaching children the right way to do things, without having to resort to shouting or lecturing. Giving them the opportunity to do-over what they have just done in a more appropriate way also helps to make sure that the lesson sticks in their memory. And rather than damaging the connection with them, as often happens when we shout at or lecture our children, this technique helps us to teach them to learn from their mistakes because of the strong connection we maintain with them.