Positive words

I was reading my ‘Mother and Baby’ magazine the other day (11 month old at home!) and I came across a lovely article entitled ‘8 words that will make your family happier – just a few simple swaps to the language you use to talk to your child can make all the difference’ (article by Alicia Eaton, she’s written a book called ‘Words that work’).

It reminded me of the advice we give to school teachers and teaching assistants, and others working with children. Tell children what you want them to do, using positive language, instead of what you don’t want them to do!

One of the words in the article is ‘Let’s’. Starting a sentence with this word can help us to use more positive language. For example, instead of telling a child ‘Don’t throw your empty packets on the floor’ we can say ‘Let’s put our empty packets in the bin’.

When we stop and listen, it won’t be long before we hear a negative instruction (Don’t…. Stop…. You can’t…. We shouldn’t….). Try turning these instructions around and using positive language and see how children respond to it.

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