Please Stop Doing That!
How to have well-behaved children without yelling
I have some nerve writing this article. In the somewhat recent past, my daughter’s listening ears were less than stellar. That’s not entirely my fault — there is something to be said for impulse control and children, but — I had some of my own behaviors to fix.
I used to teach at a low-income, inner-city school. There, I encountered all sorts of individuals with crazy life situations. Yes, some behaviors were atrocious, unbearable even. Most people I know, wouldn’t last a week teaching in that environment.
There was one student who had come into school a day after abandoning his uncle’s dead body. His uncle was killed in a shootout, and his father instructed him to hide the evidence (the body) by driving it to a different city. The kid couldn’t do it (of course), and the car was left (body still inside) on the highway. The school was on alert in case rivals showed up to continue the gunfight.
Usually, the reason for misbehavior won’t make you angry, it will break your heart. Sometimes it will scare you.
How I Handled Problem Behaviors:
My classroom was a little slice of heaven for the students and me. A student of neuropsychology, I applied scientific principles to…
