Have Fun with Negative Behavior

Happy July 1. Can't believe this summer is flying by so quickly. Here's something I was thinking about the other day.

My daughter Laura went through a stage where she’d pitifully whine that she was thirsty – as we were racing down a busy freeway with no visible exits. All my reasoning and pleading for her to be patient did little good. She continued in that annoying broken-record whiny voice, “Mom, I’m thirsty!”

After talking with a counselor friend of mine about Laura’s penchant for nagging me about something I couldn’t easily remedy, he suggested using humor to make my point.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Say something ridiculous to help her see the irrationality of her request,” he replied.

The next time my darling daughter and I were buckled in and cruising the freeway at top speed, she began her fingernail-down-the chalkboard voice, “I’m thirsty.”

I replied, “I’ll stop right here and pick a bottle of water off that bush.”

“Huh?” she asked in a suddenly mature voice.

“I can’t ease your thirst this very moment, Laura. You’re asking something impossible and I’m giving you an equally impossible solution.”

“Oh.”

This week when you’re confronting a discipline situation, try a little silliness to make your point. It might ease misbehavior and create a more pleasant climate.
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