How to Get Your Kids to Listen to You
Many kids grow accustomed to mom or dad saying things three or four times. Kids don’t really even have to listen until a parent is frustrated and nagging or yelling at them. So how do we change this habit? How do you get your kids to listen to you?
We make sure that we only ask once. We ask only once and we expect kids to act the first time.
3 Steps to Get Your Kids to Listen to You:
To get your kids to listen to you, or to start listening to you, there are three main step. Remember to follow AID:
A: Attention
I: Instruction
D: Direction
Attention:
Get your child’s attention before you ask them to do anything.
If they are watching TV, get between them and the box. If they are across the school yard, go to them. You need to be right beside the child.
Instruction:
Once you have your child’s attention, give the instruction.
Don’t ask, ‘Are you ready for dinner?’, say, ‘It’s time for dinner.’
Direction:
You are right beside your child. So, if they don’t listen, now is the time to direct them to do the behaviour.
“Are you turning off the TV or am I?” “Are you walking up to dinner on your own or with my help?”
When we ask things once and expect our kids to follow through the first time, we are teaching them a new habit.
Important to Remember…
Do not ask your kids to do something unless you are right there to ensure that it will happen the first time. This is especially important for parents with an infant and an older child. Too often, we repeatedly ask the older child to do something while we are changing the baby’s diaper or otherwise occupied or distracted.
The older child knows that we cannot enforce our request so it falls on deaf ears.
This sounds like a hassle and it does require extra effort up front. However, it stops the energy drain and frustration that comes from nagging incessantly and it teaches your kids to respond the first time. Once you’ve changed the habit, you can experiment with how far you need to be from your child when you give an instruction.
