[just_lily]

What do all of you GD gurus do about pouting? Like if a child doesn't get their way so they are going to sit and pout about it (as if that is somehow punishing YOU or something)?

My instinct is to just ignore it and go about my business, play with the other kids, and wait for it to pass. Does anyone have any other great suggestions??

 

[lafemmedesfemmes]

certainly not a gd guru over here

, but i do know that when my 4yo boy pouts over some limit i've set, he's not interested in being comforted or hearing explanations or anything like that. if i try to impose on his space, the pouting escalates to shouting, which we can both do without. so i give him space to be sad and angry, and he gets over it much more quickly. so, no, i don't *ignore* it, per se, but i do give him space to recover his equilibrium (and find something to do in the meantime! ), and if he needs to talk it over (which, i admit, does sometimes mean whining at me, or pestering me about the issue) then we'll talk about it.

but i do think it really depends on the kid. sometimes a pout is an "i need you" face, and sometimes it's a "leave me alone" face. the only way to find out which it is, is to try both approaches.

christina

 

[foreverinbluejeans]

I think some kids and adults need more time to pout, probably people with more introverted personalities. Introverts need more time to process things and to get over things. These are the kids who are pouting because they need to. It's OK to ignore them because they are in their own world.

There are kids who pout to manipulate. It is probably most effective to ignore them. If they don't get attention then it doesn't work.

So, for either type of pouting it is best to ignore. You may not be able to tell which type of pouting it is.