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Alternative to Punishment #1: Prevention
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As the old saying goes;
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
That's why "child-proofing your life" is as important
as "baby-proofing your space."
As a parent, I'm sure you've had moments when
you "foresaw" a disaster that was about to occur.
And if we take a moment to think about it,
we can usually foresee other recipes for disasters.
Taking proactive steps to "prevent" these
unecessary stresses in your life, and the
life of your child, will make a big difference
in reducing the upsets in your family.
There are simple ways to use "Prevention."
If you know your child is going to get into the
cookies, put them where he can't reach
or find them. If giving your child a sweet
dessert at night makes her stay up too late,
then change your desserts habits.
If you don't want your child getting
onto your computer, then don't make your
computer so accessible for them; shut the door
to your home office, or put the computer
out of sight.
Planning ahead will save you SO MUCH
time and energy. You'll avoid cleaning up
unnecessary messes. And you'll avoid
unecessary upsets and needless stressing out.
Prevention is the perfect companion to
Cultivating Non-Reaction. (Cultivating Non-Reaction
is covered in detail in my course:
Busy Moms Guide to Awesome Parenting)
Because often times, kids simply react to the
environment you "set up" for them,
you can "set up" the day to go smoothly,
or be a chaotic mess.
If you set up an environment where
your children spend hours zoning out
on TV every day, then they will react by
enacting the behaviors they see on TV
and by becoming more passive in life
and less ambitious.
Especially if your children are similar in age,
you'll want to child proof your house so there
are duplicates of the same toys.
By having duplicates for multiple children,
then there is less room for fighting over things.
They'll be less issues with "sharing," because
there will be two toys that are exactly the same.
Even the same colour — so there is no issue
of colour either.
When you make sure each child has the same
toy; color, shape, type, everything, then you'll be
preventing a good portion of sibling rivalry.
Exercise in Prevention:
1. Tuck away anything that poses a possible
hazard for your little one. Books, CD's,
Aunt Ida's crystal vase, anything that you
don't want them touching or getting into.
Remember, this will reduce the likelihood
of you losing your "cool" tenfold.
2. Next, do the same for anything that may
make a mess ... just put it out of reach.
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