What Would the Kids Do?

What Would the Kids Do? (Yes, this is a play on the WWJD, What Would Jesus Do?) Have you ever asked yourself that? It wasn't till recently that it popped in my head.

Over the course of the last few years, theWife and I have been trying to figure out how to parent our kids, in particular the older one. He's a bit more of a stubborn one with a lot what we call behavioral issues. But boys being boys, it may be more of a phase in life than an actual behavioral issue. However, it got me thinking as how or more like what we can do to elicit help him learn the behavior that we wanted.

What popped in my head was "What Would the Kids Do?" At first it made no sense but the more I thought about it, the more sense it actually made. I refocused my thoughts on what I wanted the kids to do to what they would naturally do. And I think that is everything. In asking this, I started to think of how they act and what the premise was.

I started to notice a trend, that it all comes back to theWife and I. We were in a sense exhibiting some of these same behaviors. The issue at hand was really a "monkey see, monkey do" type of thing, except as opposed to just copying, they were exaggerating it and playing it off in a different way. So what was a minor idiosyncrasy is now a behavioral issue.

And in realizing this, I found a few things that I needed to work in my life.

1. Think before you say or act - this is easier said than done but it will save a lot of headache in the future. Every little overreacting or nonreacting we give them will be copied and multiplied.

2. Don't do or say something just cause the kids aren't physically present - this got more to do with habit. You are you when no one else is looking. And this you will come out under stress or when you least notice it. And kids catch on quick.

3. Be patient with the kids - after all they are still learning and imitation is the best learning. Essentially, they don't know what they're doing, they just know what they're copying.

4. Be willing to change and to point it out for the kids - let the kids know we were wrong and we are working on change. Let them be your helper in keeping you accountable.

What about all of you? Have any of you come to the same realization? How have you handled it?