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ADVICE RATING

4.29 (Worth a try) from 11 votes (304 Visits)

Be flexible!

by mrscrumley

(July 2006) (rank 327th)

When our son was born we tried to follow babywise but I found that my nature did not nurture in that way and I did what was comfortable for me. Changing my tactic was better for my sanity and for the well-being of my child.

Now that our son

is 21 months old we are trying to teach him manners- saying please and thank you. For a while we would withhold what he wanted until he said "please." However that didn't work and we ending up with rivers of tears for hours. So we changed our methods and now when we give him what he wants we say "Juice please! Thank you!" The repetition and his current trend of mimicing has helped him learn to say please and thank you.

My advice isn't how to get your child to say please and thank you, but to see that when something is frustrating and not working for both of you that you may need to be flexible and find a new way to teach and raise your child.

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ADVICE RATING

4.29 (Worth a try) from 11 votes

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	February 2007 \| OzBinky

what works for you and not for me

Being comfortable with your baby is important and this means that you do what is right for you...

Good advice matey

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| January 2007 \| exquisite-flower

Flexibility is key

We come into parenting with no idea how to do it and a dread of people telling us all their wonderful tips that worked so well for them, and when we try them and they fail we feel like it is us not the method. There is nothing better than having loads of advice to sift through and then find what works best for you
Peace
EF.x

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	August 2006 \| Kate

So true!

Also, we need to keep in mind that they are new at learning all of these things - our patience is essential. Of course we should expect to have to repeat ourselves when teaching our children, and praise them when they respond correctly. They will eventually meet our expectations.

We found that the "mimicing" tactic worked best for our toddler as well. She is 26 months old and automatically says thank-you when given anything.... now if we could only put a stop to the "tooting" in public, we'd have manners in the bag!

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	4.00 (Good) \| July 2006 \| Izzy

Be very flexible.

This is actually a lesson I have learned early on having a very high-need child. Being flexible is a must with parenting because children are always changing.

As far as saying "please" and "thank you", I think it's important to start very very early and to start by example. My son is 16 months and I use "please" and "thank you" with him so he always hears me. I also teach him sign language and would sign "thank you" as well and it's been paying off. One day I told him to say thank you to someone and he signed it. I am a very proud momma.

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	4.00 (Good) \| July 2006 \| tracey

Ah ha!

Yep. So true. Withour flexibility we SNAP. Good reminder.

And, personally, I think the BabyWise book is evil. But that's just me.

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| July 2006 \| TheMentorMom

Be Flexible

Good advice. I agree that as parents we need to recognize when one of our techniques is not working for our child or for us and adjust accordingly.

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	4.00 (Good) \| July 2006 \| allyp

Agree

I do agree. My niece who's now 4 yrs old, my mom would say stuff like that. She does have good manners, but man oh man shes a pest lol.. most kids are i guess!! expecially being an only child that age in the house!!

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