You have a great craft, project, or activity planned for your child and you are super excited to share it with them. You just know they are going to love it. Then, the unexpected happens...they refuse to participate. WHAT??!! Now what?
I have been in this frustrating situation so often and I think it is one we can all relate to! We had a discussion recently at our Mom Loop community about this very thing and I wanted to share some of the advice that was given.
Things to Try if Your Child Doesn't Want to Participate:
* Target Your Child's Interests - If he loves cars, plan ideas with a car theme (painting with cars, counting with cars, drive cars on letters, color matching with cars, etc.).
* Give Up Control - Say "Ok I'll leave it here in case you change your mind.". Usually they come around if it is on their terms.
*Play By Yourself - Ask your child to join and if he/she says no say "ok" and keep playing it by yourself. Talk out loud, act like you are having so much fun, and see if he/she comes over to see what all of the excitement is about.
*Switch Roles - Ask your child to teach you to do something. For example, What could we do with these stickers and toilet paper rolls? Any ideas? OR Will you teach me how to make a playdoh tower?
*Be Patient and remember all kids are different. =)
Ooo fantastic Ideas. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas =) We tend to rotate between all of those choices. Luckily, the kids want to participate for the most part!
ReplyDeleteGoing to play by myself seems to work at my house.
ReplyDeleteWell said! Ive been there many times too! The worst thing to do is to force the child to participate. The best thing to do is to respect your child and try asking him again later when he's ready.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips, thanks!
ReplyDelete