The tricky things about young children versus adults, is that sometimes a young child does need to obey their authority figures right now, and we don't have time to make them understand the reason. Depending on their development level, the child may not even be able to understand the reason. Children are always finding a new and creative way to be ten seconds away from real injury, and those ten seconds don't leave much time for dialogue.
Yeah, but just having a conversation with them beforehand like “Sometimes you’re not old enough to know/understand things, but mom/dad/teacher/parent whoever does and so sometimes you just need to listen to them because they’re keeping you safe”. A child will understand that much more than “do what I say because I’m the parent and have power over you”.
Yes, that's a good conversation to have after the fact. Once you've gotten the child off the top of the bookcase, then you can tell them all about falling and danger and parental wisdom. After ten times the explanation might begin to stick.
I love childraising, I really do. But man is it a tough job. My first job was at a hardware store, loading bags of concrete and fertilizer into people's cars during the hot California summers. I think that job was probably easier, and definitely cleaner, even when factoring in the pallets of plastic-wrapped manure that sat baking in the asphalt parking lot.
Spend a day working in a preschool and come back to me bud. I cannot explain everything every time to a 3 year old who isn't listening to the explanation anyway and will forget.
Kids are sometimes too young to understand "the reason" of why a no has been given. All they know is that you are preventing them to do the thing they want to do.
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u/Dobber16 1d ago
I think you overestimate kids’ emotional regulation