Thank you so much for caring enough about our questionable fashion sense to vote for your favourite dress for Ro. We all happily landed on dress ... 3 and Ro wore it to our one and only Christmas party (a lovely tree-trimming party of a 20 foot tree). Ro received a lot of compliments on her dress and she LOVES it. Pics of her wearing it will follow in a later post.
Now onto something a little more serious. I have a question for y'all - have your kids picked up lovely sayings, from loved ones, schoolmates, etc.? I'm sure they all have and WE all do too, whether it is from a co-worker, a TV show we watch, our partner, our friends... With Ro starting school this year, we braced ourselves. We had been forewarned that Ro's teacher said, "Oh Lord" ... a lot. Surprisingly, we have had none of that. What we have had a lot of is "oh my gosh". Now I'm sure some of you are laughing at me right about now. You were probably bracing yourselves for something way worse. But have you heard a 3 year old utter, "Oh my gosh!" It sounds rude and somewhat inappropriate. It makes her sound like she is a 13 year old, not a 3 year old.
What have you guys done to help your beloveds curb their inappropriate sayings? How have we handled it? We use a combination approach. Positive reinforcement works well - waiting for a moment when she hasn't uttered "the dreaded" for a little while and thanking her. We have explained over and over why we don't want her to use this expression, and why an adult may say it and it doesn't sound as rude. We have also employed a little negative reinforcement - she has had a time out or three so she knows we are serious about her not saying it.
When Ro forgets herself and says "the dreaded", she is quick to stop and ask forgiveness, which is always granted (I know, so cute, right?). What seems to have worked best is Ben suggesting she say "oh my" instead. She grasped right on to that expression because she remembered it from a Sharon, Lois, and Bram song. That sounds WAY more appropriate coming out of an almost 4 year old's mouth (hint referring to future dress pics).
And yes, we do set the bar high for our child's behaviour. If we don't, no one else is going to, and if/when she doesn't meet those expectations, we don't freak out. We tell her how much we love her and why we strive for what we strive for. In this, she feels safe and secure, knowing our well-defined boundaries. Research shows that when safety, security, and clear boundaries are established, a child can reach their full potential. Sign us up!
Any stories you would like to share? Any lessons learned?
Today she came home saying, "what the heck?" *Sigh*
Trying to keep it consistent,
Tam
1 comment:
Yay on the dress selection!
I know what you mean about the new 'sayings' entering the home. We're with you on everything you said. We were really surprised to hear Natalie say, "oh my gosh!" one day. "Gosh" very quickly became "goodness".
And I'm always a little pleased when Natalie corrects people for using words that have heavy and negative connotations (hate, dumb, stupid).
We, too, have worked hard to encourage polite and sensitive word usage. So when Natalie came home with these new sayings, it was a surprise and teensy bit deflating.
Let's see if Ro and Nat have some similar sayings this week!
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