A simple parenting tip that saved my evening

A while back, I spoke to Dr. Jenny Michaelson, a parenting coach from California.

I asked Jenny for her best strategy for getting kids to cooperate, and she said:

The one that I believe in the most and feel has the most credence is really to connect with your child when you're looking for cooperation and or listening or both. When parents take a moment to connect with their child before they direct them to something...it's what really works. I call it a special sauce and there's many ways to do that.

Jenny Michaelson

A few days after the interview, my son had a massive meltdown, and while Jenny's advice wasn't specifically about how to handle tantrums, it still made such a big difference in how I approached him and to how it turned out.

It was the week of his 7th birthday, and we went to pick up a candy floss machine from the toy library for his party. But we also picked up a robot that he had been wanting to play with for a while.

When we got home, it was already after 8pm, so I told him that he could play with the robot the next day.

He did not like that at all...

He started shouting "I want the robot now! I won't go to bed until I have played with the robot!"

I started shouting "It is bedtime. I won't give you the robot!"

The situation was starting to escalate (he started trying to kick down my bedroom door where the robot is stored) when I remembered something that Jenny shared.

One of the "connection strategies" that Jenny shared is to get down to your child's level. When you want to connect with them, just sit down next to them, so that you can look them in their eyes.

This is such a simple, small thing, but it made such a big difference.

I sat down next to my son, and immediately the dynamic changed. It immediately seemed to relax him a bit.

I just kept sitting there next to him, and slowly but surely, things calmed down. Finally, we started talking, and we spoke about how he really wanted the robot, and how sad he was about not being able to play with it.

We ended up talking for half an hour, and it turned into a really positive bonding moment.

All from just one simple tip that Jenny shared about how to connect with your child.

In the interview, Jenny shares a lot more tips for how you can connect with your child, and how you can deal with those difficult transitions when your kids are really into what they are doing, and you need to get them to do something else.

You can find the full interview with Jenny Michaelson in our ebook How To Get Kids To Listen, available for free download here.