July 15, 2014
Put It to Song...


I have an almost 7-year-old boy, who is a boy's boy. Did I mention he's a boy?Therefore, he's active, distracted and loves to play. I love my boy and have found ways to get what I need from him. There are things he needs to do and often forgets to do them, so instead of yelling or getting annoyed, I've learned if I make it a game it's amazing what can be accomplished: anything from "I bet you can't brush your teeth faster than I can", or "If you put on your shoes in 60 seconds, I'll spin in circles 3 times", etc. This works really well.  However, there was one thing he just couldn't seem to nail down. When he leaves his room, he's supposed to shut the door so the cat won't go in there. It seems my sweet boy just could not remember to do that and I got annoyed with myself saying, "Did shut the door?", "Boo-boo, did you get the door?" You get the picture. So one day, I said to him, "I've made up a song and I want you to sing it when you come down the stairs. Here it goes: Stairs, Stairs up and down, if I don't shut the door my mommy will frown." We sang it together in a ring-around-the-Rosie-type rhythm over and over and danced and sang. I said, "Okay, Boo, you sing this song every time you come downstairs and I bet you won't forget". Worked like a charm. So now, if there are tasks at hand I want my little guy to do, I put it to music!

Thanks for all your wisdom on a daily basis.

A loyal podcaster,

Sandra

 

Posted by Staff at 10:59 AM