Tired of nagging your child to do the right thing? Skip the lecture! Instead, add these super-fun ways to teach honesty, responsibility, compassion, patience, and more to your parenthood playbook. (We promise she won't even notice the lesson.)
Voice Lessons:
How to play: Read 10 sentences from a children's book into a tape recorder, using a pleasant voice for some and a whiny voice for others. Play them back and ask your child to raise her hand when she hears the sentences read in a nice voice. When she gets them all right, have her record sentences in her silliest, whiniest, and nicest voices.
What it teaches: Whining is annoying.
Why it works: This game shows that something as familiar as a favorite story can be changed simply by the way you speak, and it helps kids understand how their tone comes across to other people.
"Mother, May I?"
How to play: Line up the players facing you, about 10 feet away. Give commands to one kid at a time: "Sarah, take one hop forward." If Sarah responds, "Mother, may I?" you can say either "Yes, you may" or "No, you may not." If your reply is "yes," make sure that Sarah says "Thank you" before she goes. Anyone who forgets her manners or makes a move without permission is sent back to the starting line. Keep playing until one child reaches Mother. Give each kid a chance to be Mother.
What it teaches: Respect. You can't just tell kids to be respectful, you have to teach them the skills. "This game reinforces courtesy, which is a big part of respect," says Dr. Borba.
Parent tip: To avoid frustration over misunderstood consequences ("I didn't know I had to say thank you!"), make the rules of the game perfectly clear before you get started.
Build-a-Train
How to play: You'll need several cardboard boxes large enough for a kid to sit inside. Put out a variety of art supplies -- markers, stickers, construction paper, glue -- and tell each child to turn his or her box into a train car. Once they've decorated the outside of their box with wheels, windows, and whatever else they can think of, help them arrange the cars one behind the other, then hop aboard for an imaginary choo-choo ride.
What it teaches: Perseverance. Games that require team prep work give kids a sense of accomplishment, says clinical psychologist Sandra McLeod Humphrey, author of Hot Issues, Cool Choices: Facing Bullies, Peer Pressure, Popularity, and Put-Downs. The positive payoff introduces children to the good feeling they get when they achieve their hard-earned goals.
Parent tip: Be prepared to hang on to those boxes; the kids will want to get together and hit the track again and again.
Timeless Truths
Originally
published in 1946, Munro Leaf's endearing book is a smart guide to
being a good friend (one must be honest, fair, wise, and strong),
illustrated with charming stick figures.
