We don't always realise that our little ones see, hear, feel and understand things different to us.
Here are some tips on how you can help them with verbal commands or instructions, just so you avoid confusion and everyone is clear on what is expected.
Get their attention
Always make sure before you start a sentence that you have their attention. It might sometimes look to you like you have their attention, but children are actually master pretenders. It will seem like you have their undivided attention, meantime they are thinking of games or TV or snack time.
Eliminate distraction
Make sure that it is pretty much dead silent around you when you are relaying the instructions. Any sound will distract you child and could cause frustration. Turn off the TV or radio. Let them put down everything in their hands and look you in the eyes.
Soft and gentle
Children respond better to when they are spoken to in a calm and gentle manner. When you start raising your voice and shouting, they shut down and nothing will get through to them. Just think for yourself, if someone screams and shouts at you then you get lost in your own head instead of listening.
Recap
Don't just give your instruction through once, give your child a few seconds to process what you just asked them to do and then repeat it to them. This works like a charm, they could have misunderstood you the first time, but the second time around is to make sure they fully understand what is expected of them.
The above mentioned tips might not always work for everyone, but you can try to incorporate one or two or three of them into your system and see if they help.
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