Suggestions From Your Child

I love being a mother.  I love being a preschool teacher.  I read this the other day, a little info sheet put together by another preschool teacher, and it brought a smile to my face and also gave me pause. It's so easy to be overwhelmed as a parent, that we forget sometimes how overwhelmed our kids can be too, and just how much they need our guidance and understanding.  I am also guilty of doing a lot of these DONT'S, but this is why I am a big believer in #17. ;-)

Suggestions From Your Child

1.  Don't spoil me.  I know quite well hat I ought not to have all I ask for - I'm only testing you.

2.  Don't be afraid to be firm with me.  I prefer it, it makes me feel secure.

3.  Don't let me form bad habits.  I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4.  Don't make me feel smaller than I am.  It only makes me behave stupidly "Big".

5.  Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly   with me in private.

6.  Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins, it upsets my sense of values.

7.  Don't protect me from consequences, I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

8.  Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you".  It isn't you I hate, but your power to stop me.

9.  Don't nag.  If you do I will have to protect myself by appearing deaf.

10.Don't make rash promises. Remember that I feel badly let down when promises are broken.

11.Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should.  This is why I'm not always accurate when I tell you things.

12.Don't tax my honesty too much. I am easily frightened into telling lies.  Also, I sometimes really believe things happened when in fact I imagined them.

13.Don't be inconsistent.  That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14.Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking you, and seek my information elsewhere.

15.Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible.  It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

16.Don't tell me that my fears are silly, for they are terribly real to me and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

17.Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me.

18.Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get on without it.  So please put up with me.

19.Don't forget how quickly I am growing up.  It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, 

but please try.