Recently overheard “conversation” between a mother juggling her 6-month-old baby and 2-year-old toddler, while her 4-year-old happily frolicked around the parking lot of my daughter’s school:
“Lily, get into the van.
LILY! Get into the van now.
LIIILLLY!!! Stop running around and get into the van NOW!
LILY FRANCIS, YOU GET INTO THIS VAN NOW!!!
LILY! VAN! NOW!
ONE… TWO…
LILY… onetwothree… I mean it… GET. OVER. HERE. NOOOOOOOW!!!”
Enter another mom, who scoops up the errant child and deposits her into the van that holds a now screaming 6-month-old, an ornery 2-year-old, and a hoarse mother.
While you might not agree with the tactic this particular mom tried using to get her kid into the family’s van, surely you can relate to the conundrum she faced dealing with a child who completely ignored her existence.
Actually, if you had witnessed the scene first-hand, you may have wondered if the child had a hearing problem or whether the woman yelling “LILY!” with such vigor, was in fact even related to the kid. Maybe the girl didn’t know her name was Lilyonetwothree.
Who knows?
I’m pretty sure the girl heard every syllable that spewed from her mother’s lips; she just chose not to listen to them.
Such is the case for so many parents.
So what’s a fed-up mom or dad to do?
I’ve achieved mild success over the years getting my 5-year-old to listen when I whisper instead yell, but the honestly, I have no clue what the magic cure-all for listless kids is. Frankly, I don’t think one exists. What works best for one kid may flounder with another.
That said, there is a slew of “expert advice” designed to preserve parents’ sanity when they feel they are on the brink of imploding. Getting Your Children to Listen to You for Dummies provides sound advice for parents who are fed up with being ignored by their offspring.
The authors suggest using the following tactics to get your kids to actually listen to you:
*Get down to your children’s level
*Use simple words
*Get to the point
*Don’t yell
And if all else fails… there’s always the threat of extreme punishments.
What do you do to get your kids to listen?
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