New answers tagged rules
1
Actually both (2) and (3) are almost as bad as (1) because they only can be applied if someone knows what they did wrong. The question you need to ask yourself is not "How do I correct behaviour X?" but rather "Why is behaviour X wrong?" and "Why should anyone share my judgement of right and wrong regarding X?".
And there is ...
0
So yea there are some fairy tale answers here. I think they are thinking about this too deeply.
1st - it is a MAJOR issue if you kid wants to damage/vandalize random things. There is something wrong with him/her. Whether this is being upset about something, an issue that is not being dealt with or unstable discipline... the kid is lashing out. Let's ...
8
Why not simply tell him the true reason?
"You shouldn't damage the thing because it isn't yours."
Because it is the correct and logical answer, this one is more likely to work than the others and get the kid to learn something useful.
Then you could explain using simple examples: "If you have a toy you don't like, maybe you want to break it or ...
0
Let's go through these one at a time:
"The watchmen will reprimand you if he sees you" - that implies that the only reason that you wouldn't do something like this is that you might get caught. So, in the future, will he avoid doing stuff like that, or will he only be careful not to get caught?
"Because I say so" - not very convincing, ...
3
Have you thought about why you don't want your kid to vandalize things? No "authoritative" answer will be as convincing as your very own and authentic feelings and thoughts on the matter. Even "I don't want you to break it, because I like how it looks" will work better than any fake answer parroted from the internet. Kids have great BS ...
2
Dealing with this kind of thing starts at home.
What do you say/do when he kicks something at home? In my home there is an emphasis on looking after our possessions. "Don't throw that, you'll break it, and then you can't play with it anymore. We look after our possessions."
Emphasis on looking after our own things, because they are valuable and we ...
21
Just to add to what other posters have said, this can be a good time to give a child a lesson in empathy as well. Something like "Well, that dinosaur belongs to someone. Would you like it if someone kicked your <favourite toy, games console, etc>?".
They would most likely say no, so then the obvious next question is "Why not?"
27
Something that hasn't been addressed is why the child is kicking the dinosaur.
They are bored with the park or this exhibit ("Hey, don't damage the exhibits. If you're bored let's go and see the XYZ.")
They are imagining fighting a dinosaur (Acknowledge the story. Compliment their bravery etc. Engage the imagination by talking about fighting a ...
6
Here are some pros and cons that I can think of:
"The watchmen will reprimand you if he sees you"
Pros:
Communicating that social rules are enforced
Teaching that actions may have consequences
Convenient as you as a parent are not saying no
Cons:
Not communicating your own position on the matter (which means that the main message - that ...
53
Of all your suggestions, only one really says “it’s not ok to kick the dinosaurs”. The other are sending a different message, which can be summed up as
Don’t do it when [some else with more power] sees it, because there may be undesirable consequences.
The logical next step for some clever kids is to do exactly what you don’t want them to do the moment ...
18
Quietly and politely, tell the child to please not kick the dino and give the best possible (age-appropriate) reason. Something like "Please don't kick the dino. The dinos in the park are not for kicking. If other kids start kicking them, the dinos will fall apart and then next time we come to the park, there will be nothing to play with."
...
Top 50 recent answers are included
