Have you ever told your little one “DON’T drop that!”, “DON’T run!”, “DON’T touch that!” or any other “DON’T ( verb or noun)!“
Does your child mostly A) Do exactly what you say or B) Do exactly what you told them NOT to do?
In most situations it’s B, right?
WHY?
It’s because young kids usually do not understand contractions such as “Don’t, Won’t, Can’t, Shouldn’t”, etc, until early grade school grammar lessons. Since they cannot understand those contractions, all their little brains hear from those earlier examples are: “DROP that”, “RUN”, “TOUCH that”. In essence they are doing exactly what they think is being said.
Instead of telling them “DON’T”, tell them exactly what you want them to do. Check our “Instead Of, Try This” technique below:
INSTEAD OF….>>>TRY THIS….
Don’t drop that!>>>>Hold it.
Don’t run!>>>Walk.
Don’t touch that!>>>Hands down.
Try this technique and let me know how it works in your home!
