Elimination Communication. We do Elimination Communication with our kids.
Also known as ‘EC’. EC means you communicate about eliminating. It’s not about the number of pees or poos you catch; it’s not about forcing them to be trained early; it’s just about communicating about the child’s potty needs, like you communicate about their need to eat or to go to sleep. It is about paying attention, tuning in. It is a completely gentle, light hearted method. EC is not ‘parent training’, it is parenting. EC is no more work than conventional potty training. Some people do EC by raising their babies diaper free. EC with Bob We started EC with Bob when he was about 6 weeks old. Bob liked to go poop while he was breast feeding and I tried to catch those poops in a bowl during our innumerable boob sessions, but it wasn’t comfortable for me.
I used timing (‘hm, been a while since he’s been’, or ‘just ate lots’), his cues, my cues to him and best of all…. intuition. The pees were a bit more elusive with him. 25 Ways to Talk So Children Will Listen. A major part of discipline is learning how to talk with children.
The way you talk to your child teaches him how to talk to others. Here are some talking tips we have learned with our children: 1. Connect Before You Direct Before giving your child directions, squat to your child’s eye level and engage your child in eye-to-eye contact to get his attention. 2. Open your request with the child’s name, “Lauren, will you please…” 3.
We use the one-sentence rule: Put the main directive in the opening sentence. 4. Use short sentences with one-syllable words. 5. If he can’t, it’s too long or too complicated. 6. You can reason with a two or three-year-old, especially to avoid power struggles. Family Lives Advice & Support for Mum, Dad, and Professionals Charity reg 1077722. Parenting Tips- 10 ways to be light hearted. Blog post excerpted from Gretchen Rubin's website Happiness-Project.com.
One of my Twelve Commandments is “Lighten up,” and I have a lot of resolutions aimed at trying to be a more light-hearted parent: less nagging, more laughing. We all want a peaceful, cheerful, even joyous, atmosphere at home — but we can’t nag and yell our way to get there. Here are some strategies that help me: 1. At least once a day, make each child helpless with laughter. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Have you found any good strategies to cut back on the shouting and to add moments of laughing, singing, and saying “yes”?