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(1ht) my 4 yo dd has picked up some manipulative tendencies and uses them on her brother. I'm not exactly sure how to curb it because I realize where it came from. Let me explain - often when asking the kids to refrain from doing something, I say something along the lines of "if you do X, Y will happen and we won't be able to Z anymore"... like this: "please stop standing on the bin because it will break and then we won't have it to keep toys in anymore", that kind of thing... Dd has turned it into a way of trying to control her brother that goes like this "if you don't do what I want, then I'm going to withhold Y from you." i.e. "if you don't put on this scarf then we won't be able to play trains anymore" (lord only knows why it was soooooo important to her that Ds wears the scarf). i've been trying to explain how speaking like that doesn't really make people want to play with her... it's completely going over her head. And of course, I think she thinks it's the same as the kind of explanation I have done since they were babies.<br><br>
Any suggestions on what I should do? I think I should probably stop explaining the way I do, but then how *do* I explain things? I want the kids to understand that there's a reason I'm telling/asking them to do or not do things...<br><br>
And also, how do I curb this obnoxious behavior from DD in a positive way?
Any suggestions on what I should do? I think I should probably stop explaining the way I do, but then how *do* I explain things? I want the kids to understand that there's a reason I'm telling/asking them to do or not do things...<br><br>
And also, how do I curb this obnoxious behavior from DD in a positive way?