Thursday, November 06, 2003

More kiddies

Gotta agree with Mr. Hominid about the use of the word "No" and defining boundaries. That's huge for raising a kid.

The best piece of parental advice I've ever heard was to pick battles wisely and sparingly because the parent should win ever single battle. Fighting a kid over every little annoying thing they do is futile. You end up spending all your time arguing with a child. Better to let the annoying things slide, and fight the big fights.

Regarding the demon-child that BH is talking about below, I can only speak from personal experience. When my own toddler has acted up in public places, my reaction is always to calmly remove my daughter from the store/restaurant/whatever, and get her somewhere where it's just the two of us. At that point, I take my time to get her to calm down, and then we either leave or return. First rule of parenting... put down what you're doing and focus on your child and do the right thing. Don't give them candy to get them to shut up, or buy them a toy to pacify them, or yell and scream at them publicly. Do the right thing, even if it inconveniences you.

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