We can all use a little more parenting help on the weekends when we don’t have any breaks with work or school. So, remember the tip, what you water grows: meaning, what you give attention to gets bigger. I have a great story to illustrate this. When my oldest was in preschool he picked up a not so great word, and it was the day before he had to be babysat by his grandmother. So, naturally I funneled my big feelings about this into a lot of negative attention towards this new word. And what happened? He said it more and more. I shamefully admitted this to his grandmother the next day as I dropped him off. When I picked him up she tells me that yes, indeed, he did say his new obscene word. However, she just ignored it and he stopped saying it. Suddenly, I realized, attention was only growing the behavior I didn’t want to see. And I could use this idea for good–by giving attention to the behaviors I DID like in my children I could see them more often–kindness to their siblings, listening to instructions, staying in their own beds–what I watered would grow.
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