thread: do u talk to your kids about the behaviours you want and dont want?

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  1. #1
    Registered User

    Jul 2009
    166

    do u talk to your kids about the behaviours you want and dont want?

    a friend and i do babysitting for each other to give each other breaks.

    she does not beleive in behaviour modification she tells me.
    I talk to my kids about what behaviours i want and dont want and i find then that when i go to the pool or take them out or to an appointment or even at home with their toys and each other they know what they are and are not allowed to do and they behave quite well.

    I find her kids will
    not respect poeple toys other items, will just pass and throw them , throw shoes on roofs or toys as they pass them

    open the front door and go out without permission and its not safe

    just jump into a pool without an adult

    etc

    all things that i would love the parents to chat to them and reinforce these things and i would be willing to also in a gentle way
    eg just asking things like
    do we....
    and saying what we do or dont do and why
    what we are allowed to do or not allowed to do and why
    all in a non threatening way
    but a few gentle reminders i feel maximises the chances of behaviours we want occuring and behaviours we dont want or that can be dangerous not occuring.

    i cant force another parent or tell them waht to do

    i only asked if we can both support each other to reinforce botht he good behaviours and also what we want and allow.

    i felt all carers at home and school would benefit if they had improved behaiovur , rule awareness, respect.

    But i cant force this parent to do it.
    i tried to suggest it and she just said
    that she doesnt beleive in behaviour modification.

    it makes it alot harder fo rme to care for her children or anyone else.

    what can i do .

  2. #2
    Registered User

    May 2010
    Salisbury North
    56

    I have no suggestion as to what you could do. But I understand what you are saying. My DF and I do that now with his 11yo and even with DD I talk to her about what is right and wrong- she is 3months old.

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Jan 2006
    8,369

    I don't believe in behaviour modification, or personality modification. I don't believe in moulding my child to be something I want rather than who he is.

    Having said that, we also have rules that he can choose to keep or break. He is told the consequences and these are carried out. I am not changing who he is, just how the world reacts to him. Which he cannot control after the event, just as I cannot control how the world reacts to me. I have learnt to keep my tongue in a scabbard, so to speak, although my mind is still very scathing at times.

    Consequences, to me, are not behaviour modification. They are a fact of life and something you choose for yourself. Whether you meant to or not.

    I suppose you do change personality and behaviour in response to consequences. Can take years. But it's me choosing to change myself, not someone else telling me that "good girls have neat houses" then expecting me to live up to that or be branded "bad".

    If I throw my shoes away, I go barefoot. No good or bad label. Just barefoot because we can't afford new shoes. That is not changing someone, just giving them a consequence.

    If DS wants to stay at the pool, he holds hands and doesn't run when we are out of the pool. He is not bad for getting excited. But he has fallen and hurt himself, which made him realise WHY I want him to hold hands (he didn't understand me telling him) and voila, he holds hands and tries not to run. That's HIM modifying his behaviour to stay safe, not me changing him to fit in with my plan. Before age three, he stops me at the road and asks if there are cars coming. He is giving me rules - to keep me safe. He sees I obey "his" rules, so he sticks to them. I ask him if he feels safe, and if he doesn't how to make him safe. He modifies my actions too. But I allow it. He isn't forcing me to fit into his vision of a mother, just as I don't force him into my vision of a son. He's himself - just himself who can function in society.

    By having no rules, your adult child will suffer - and every baby is an adult waiting to happen. By modifying a personality, your child suffers every step of the way. By giving loving consequences and listening to your child, I believe you bring your child up to deal with the world.

    Sounds like you're doing the consequence thing, like most parents do. And you can always insist on consequences in your house, because there are some things you cannot allow. If another child from ANY background tried to destroy things, then things are removed. They are "broken" therefore you can no longer have them. You throw toys around like that, they break. You want to play, we all play together in a non-damaging way. Maybe I'm looking at this too simply, but that seems to work with me and Liebs.

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Sep 2005
    In the middle of nowhere
    9,362

    Is she lazy or is there a reason behind that?
    That seems really irresponsible to me....there are rules when you are an adult and if you are never thought to respect any rules or boundaries, how the heck can you manage as an adult?
    Not only that, surely she can that her children behave differently (like outta control) to other children.

    I think you approached it admirably. Perhaps your next chat with her suggest that the fact that they have no boundaries, particularly in relation to their own safety makes you anxious and feel unable to look after them properly? I really don't know..that's really tough.
    I agree with LZ too. YOur house, your rules. If they can't follow them, they can't come.

    And yes, we talk about stuff with DD in particular all the time. I even use phrases like 'not negotiable' (when it's a safety issue) and 'not acceptable' and then give them the reasons.

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Jul 2009
    166

    thanks so much. that was all very helpful

    today she and her husband were much better telling her daughter not to come out the front door
    telling her daughter to talk to me nicely and apologise to me
    it still could be much better them preparing their kids to listen to me , and maybe promising a prize if they do
    the daughter wasnt around much today and its really her that is the greatest challenge by far.

  6. #6
    Registered User

    Sep 2005
    In the middle of nowhere
    9,362

    Glad you've gotten some progress hun.
    We think children are influenced the most by positive role models, but TBH I reckon adults are just the same.

  7. #7
    2014 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.

    Apr 2010
    In the mad house at loopy land
    1,230

    Im like you.I run through things when i drop DS2 at school eg i say" hands and feet?" He says "to myself" i say "what choice's do we make?" he will say "Good choice's". I also pre-warm my boys when were going out. I let them know what is expected and what will happen if they do do that. I think its great to pre-pair a child.

  8. #8
    Registered User

    Jul 2009
    166

    when a child is asking why why why what what what all day for every single little things probably because they are bored and its just driving you nutes its not learning or inquisitiveness its just boredeom and exhausting,
    but you are in a home that doesnt allow dvds

    what do you do ?!

  9. #9
    Registered User

    Nov 2006
    Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
    1,293

    hell yeah!

    i don't think it's behaviour modification, because you are your childs teacher, they are learning for the first time. I would like my children to respect others, basically in my house my rules go, and if others don't like that then they can go jump. I would expect my children to respec the rules of any house they go to as well.

    at our house ds is not allowed to help himself to the pantry or fridge or dvd's, or he won't get them he can play with any of his toys he likes and occasionally gets a reminder he needs to pack some up before getting anymore out, and if I have to pack them all up, they dissapear completley.
    he is taught to hold hands when we go out, and that if he can't we will not go out.
    he is also praised when he does these things without reminders.