Be silly. Your kids will listen!

The sillier you are the better your children will respond, says our baby expert Jenni Johnson. Get her five top parenting tips for the week here. 

 

- A wonderful book called the 10 Talents of Parenting by Lawrence Cohen teaches that playfulness is one of the most effective ways to parent. The sillier you are the better your children will respond, try singing to them in an opera voice when you want them to clean their rooms or pretend their toys can talk and act out a power struggle you may be having with your child. Firm boundaries must however stay in place. 

 

- When you take your new baby home to a toddler you may feel that this older child has suddenly become more demanding but in actual fact he or she is behaving typically. Toddlers operate in the here and now and it is very difficult for her or him to be patient and wait while you finish feeding or changing the baby. Your first child’s frustration is not therefore necessarily a negative response to the new baby.

 

- Routines help children feel secure and there'll be less need for conflict if they expect things to happen in a certain way or at a particular time. For example, your children  (will eventually) know it's bedtime after they've had a bath and brushed their teeth.

 

- It's natural for kids to have many emotions about a divorce. They might feel guilty and imagine that they "caused" the problem. This is particularly true for the many kids who overheard their parents arguing about them. Kids and teenagers may feel angry or frightened, or worried about their future. Amidst your own worries or anger find time to seek out help for your children.

 

- Here’s a song with many uses to encourage baby to learn routine activities. To the tune of "Here we go round the mulberry bush" you may sing:’’ This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands wash our hands this is the way we wash our hands so early in the morning… or this is the way we clean our teeth or tidy toys……

 

* Catch Jenni on-air every day just after 10am with her tip of the day.

 

Jenni Johnson, our resident ‘Baby Whisperer’, has been a practicing child-care practitioner for 15 years, and owns a busy ante and post natal clinic in Durban. 

 

At Jenni’s ante and post natal clinic in Durban, parents are taught a system that gives them structure and routine to the baby and childhood years. Jenni has a nursing background. She’s a registered nurse, midwife, psychiatric nurse and a practicing child-care practitioner for the past 15 years. Jenni’s online clinic, can be accessed online via www.jennisays.com. For appointments, e-mail [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter via @JenniSays or on Facebook by 'liking' The Berea Baby Clinic.