How to eat a plane
The two core emotional needs that every child has. And how to help them proactively fill those needs, so they don't end up fighting you for it.
Michel Lotito holds the Guiness World Record for strangest diet.
In his life, he ate at least 1 whole plane, 1 computer, 15 shopping carts, and 1 Guinness award plate.
It took him two years to eat the plane - he broke up the plane's metal into small pieces and then ate them along with mineral oil, to help the metal go down.
It is estimated that he ate about 2 tons of metal in his life.
Last night, my son threw a tantrum "because I don't ever give him anything nice to eat." This was after I had made him oats and offered him cashew nuts, which he eats every evening.
I was frustrated, so I told him to just go choose something for himself. He went into the kitchen cupboard, and picked some old dried crackers, which he happily ate dry.
Sometimes, kids just want control. They just want to have a choice over their life.
In fact, according the Tia Slightman, a parenting coach and co-author of "You've Got This, Mama, Too", all kids have an inborn need for control and power.
When I spoke to her for my book "How To Get Kids To Listen", she shared the idea of seeing your kids as having emotional need buckets, for control and attention.
Each day, your kids need to get these buckets filled. They need a certain amount of attention from you, and they also need a certain amount of control over their own lives.
What Tia recommends is that you proactively work to help fill these buckets for them, to avoid them having to fight you to fill them up.
In our interview, Tia shared a technique she calls "Golden Time" that you can do with your child every day, to proactively fill both of these buckets at the same time.
Now, Tia is a big proponent of parenting smarter, not harder, so in the interview she shares how you can implement this "Golden Time" by just making small tweaks to what you are already doing.
In fact, she shares the 5 ingredients of Golden Time, which you can use to change what you are already doing with your child, in order to get the most value out of the time you are already spending with them.
By doing this every day, Tia says that your child will be more cooperative, less likely to fight you, and make your days easier and more enjoyable.
In the full interview, Tia also shares some common mistakes that parents make when implementing Golden Time, and also some strategies for juggling multiple children and ensuring they all get their emotional needs buckets filled.
You can find the full interview with Tia Slightham - How to parent smarter, not harder - here.