| |
|
|
|
|
Raising Your Child's Self-Esteem
and Promoting Good Behavior
by Jodie Lynn
Ever want to do something to make your children feel better
about their self-esteem and promote good behavior? Add a
little zip to their day and add mini successes.
1. Make up TV money. As the child does something worth
recognition -- he/she gets TV money. On a specific night of
a favorite program or at other various times -- the child
can buy more TV viewing time with the money. Money can take
on the form of play coins and various bills that you and the
children make together.
2. Put me in the hat! After discussing vacation spots with
family members, everyone gets to write down several places
that they wish to go. It makes the kids feel like they have
been heard and are important.
3. Let them earn the right to put a suggestion in the hat by
raising self-esteem and "giving a pat on the back" for a job
well done: setting the table, cleaning up home office, going
to the potty, feeding the pet, cleaning up their room, etc.
The child gets to choose one of his "Put Me in The Hat"
slips with his favorite vacation spot. Of course, the place
with the most slips is the vacation that wins - so be sure
to say, "These are only suggestions and we may not get to go
to each one - but, let's have fun getting ideas."
4. Vacation spots can be homemade with various fruits,
rocks, animals, boats, etc., to represent the place of
vacation and to make it more fun and educational for the
kids. Depending on how much time you'd like to put into this
project, it could go into more complicated detail with
beads, feathers, ribbon, etc.
5. "You've Got a Date With Me!" - similar idea. Pick out
favorite restaurants or activities and write them on slips
of papers. For every good deed, a "Thank You" slip gets to
be pulled out of the jar and the child writes his favorite
place to go or something to do. At the end of the day, week,
etc., slips are tabulated to see which restaurant or
activity has won. Save the really neat ones for grades or
other special occasions. "You've Got a Date With Me," slips
can be made into various veggies, music notes, bowling
balls, whatever represents the restaurant or activity with
the name printed in a bright color with markers.
Two people can go together or the whole family - choose that
ahead of time. If at all possible, try to honor the winner.
Limiting or offering suggestions for the activity,
restaurant or the TV program might be a good idea if a work
schedule has become tight in a specific week or month. As
the time draws closer and it appears it cannot happen, let
the kids know that you will try to honor their suggestions
but that sometimes things can come up to prevent it. If an
event or activity cannot be worked out, it can always be
rescheduled. Follow through on previous plans on keeping
your word and responsibility as a role model. Life is full
of lessons - try to teach valuable ones.
©2006 Jodie Lynn
Jodie Lynn is an award-winning internationally syndicated
family/health columnist and radio personality. Her
syndicated column Parent to Parent (www.ParentToParent.com)
has been successful for over 10 years and appears in
newspapers, magazines, newsletters and throughout the
Internet. She is a regular contributor to several sites and
has written four books and contributed to three others. Her
latest books are Mom CEO (Chief Everything Officer) -
Having, Doing and Surviving It All! (June 2006) and
Syndication Secrets - What No One Will Tell You (March
2006). Check out the website for details on her new radio
talk show, Inside Parenting Success
|
|
