Between the ages of 1 and 3, children start their journey towards independence and personal power. This is a normal and healthy stage in their development. While children require a great deal of guidance, it’s important to respect and support this increasing need for independence and personal power. When children are supported in these areas […]
“When provided the opportunity to problem solve, children often come up with some of the same solutions that they would ignore if they were offered by adults in the form of lectures!” It’s amazing what great problem solvers children can be and how much more cooperative they become when they are actually involved in the
Practicing power “with” children vs. power “over” children can be more of a shift in thinking for adults than actually giving up punishment. We often think it is more about what we do “to” children to make them change their ways (the power over thing again)! To recap Steps 1 – 3 (in “Encouraging Children
Practice “Power With” Kids! Encouraging Kids to More Positive Behaviour – Step 4 Read More »
The most effective way to influence behaviour is through encouragement. To clarify, however, encouragement is not about being permissive or letting children “get away” with things. Sometimes encouragement has to come in the form of being firm with children. Children need structure and they need limits. Without them, they flounder. One of the foundational
Encouraging Children to More Positive Behavior – Step 3. Read More »
After a long absence, I look forward to get back to blogging and helping adults create environments where kids “thrive, learn and cooperate”! “Where did we get the crazy idea that in order for kids to do better we have to first make them feel worse?” This is one of my favourite quotes of Jane
Rudolf Dreikurs taught the importance of being both kind and firm in our relations with children. Kindness is important in order to show respect for the child. Firmness is important in order to show respect for ourselves and for the needs of the situation. Authoritarian methods usually lack kindness. Permissive methods lack firmness. Kindness and
I Love You and the Answer is “No” Read More »
Ruth Buffam
Certified Positive Discipline Educator & Trainer
Positive Discipline Solutions Canada