Elle and Abigail are talking about ways you can get children to listen and respond to your requests, without resorting to yelling or punishments.

Elle shares a story that happened that morning about her son refusing to come to the breakfast table and how they worked their way through the hurdle before he missed the school bus. Elle has an enlightening moment about her childhood breakfasts and how they might impact how she handles breakfast refusals. Meanwhile, Abigail recalls the time her son, as a 9th-month-old, gave a low growl that meant HE WAS NOT GOING TO EAT THE SPINACH PUREE, and reveals a more hopeful story.

Practical Tips and Tools for Getting A Child to Listen

They talk about why so often parental requests seem to go unheard, and what parents can do to avoid resorting to shouting, bribing or coercing action.

• Why "shoulds" make requests to hard to give, hard to hear, and annoying when they are ignored
• How tracing your triggers helps you decide which battles to fight going forward
• How to blend your parental wisdom with your child's innate desire to do things
• Ways to connect so that more of your requests get heard

Listen as Abigail and Elle share parenting tools that can be applied to almost any situation, from setting screen time limits to getting out the door on time.

Free gifts, links and mentions…

The giveaway that Elle mentions about Listening Partnerships is wonderful and can be found here.

She also mentions the post What If Parenting Is an Emotional Practice?

We'd love to hear about the issues affecting you and your family. You can follow Hand in Hand on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Be sure to drop Elle and Abigail a message

You can contact Abigail Wald about parenting courses and consultations at realtimeparenting.com

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by Patty Wipfler and Tosha Schore

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