Practice Makes Perfect

Sometimes children have a behavior problem that is hard to solve.

What do you do when little Susie is behaving badly with her friends?  You aren’t always right there to correct her.

Or how about if little Johnny needs to learn to show deference to ladies, but he runs past them, through the door and on to his own task?

Here’s a tip that has worked really well for us.  Practice.

I will sit little Susie down and explain…..”Honey, I have noticed you aren’t very nice with your friends.  You act selfishly.  The Bible says to love your neighbor more than you love yourself.  So we’re going to have some practice sessions to show you how to treat others.”

You set up scenarios.  You are the friend and you start to “play.”  Make it difficult.  Insist on having your own way.  Be rude.  Then teach her how to respond in love.  Then do another try….a different friend.  Keep practicing, over and over. Do this for several days, or even weeks.  Then do it weekly for a while.  It’s great as a refresher plus the added bonus of spending time together.

It really helps if you have a new Bible verse to discuss with each practice session.

With our boys, we practice “gentlemanliness.”  I walk in and out of our front door and show them how to open it and wait for me.  We will sometimes practice at a department store where the doors are heavier and harder to open.  I will stand there and have them open doors for ladies and older gentlemen passing through.  Then we’ll practice other gentleman ways.  Waiting for a lady to pass, standing up when a lady enters the room, helping with groceries, etc.  We will just practice it again and again until it feels natural to them.

While you’re practicing, you’ll find some key words that will help.  For example, if something funny happens while you’re practicing, use that as a key word to remind them of what they’ve learned.  Once, while we were practicing, Noah nearly took my nose off with the door.  So now I can just grin and say, “Please don’t slam the door on my face,” and he knows exactly what to do.  Plus it reminds him that I am not taking it all too seriously.  It’s just to make life better, but it doesn’t affect how I feel about him.

Now I’ve got to go practice making dinner.  Believe me, with my cooking I need all the practice I can get!  😉