Gaiala

My fool-proof little trick to help a child feel good about being told "NO"

... or at least not feel too bad about it

I don't tell a kid "DON'T DO THIS", "YOU CAN'T DO THAT", etc. Instead, I gently say:

"I'm sorry honey, WE can't do this BECAUSE..."

and I give a simple, logical reason. I usually follow with something like "how about doing this instead?" or "what do you think we could do?"

With little children, I usually say:

"I'm sorry honey, we can't do this because you could get hurt, and you're too precious. I don't want you to get hurt."

Now, who could argue with that? Even tiny tots understand the logic behind it ... and they find another way to do what they had planned, or simply do something else alltogether.

It give them some control while giving me peace of mind. Win-win for everyone!

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash