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Convincing kids is a complex task and almost all parents would agree to this. Elders often tend to get impatient with kids and use whatever comes handy at that moment to convince them. But petty things become serious when kids are concerned. And whatever a person comes across as kid stays with him/her forever. It’s always advisable to practice truth with children and in places where it can’t be used, it’s necessary to be prudent in a way that doesn’t impose any harmful effect on your child. The right ways to convince your kid will depend on your kid’s temperament, context of the situation etc. But there are definitely some specific and very commonly used wrong ways of convincing which must be avoided.
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Know Things Parents Should Never Tell Their Kids or Parents should never do to convince kids.
Bribing
DO NOT try this. Just do not. First of all, introducing a child to the concept of bribing obviously does not sound like a very good idea. Plus, your child will get an idea that everything can be negotiated for. He/she will start expecting something in lieu of doing what you want them to and this will turn into a habit which will prevail for long. Some kids also agree to do things that they know are wrong because they are being given something in return. Greediness is not something you want in your child. Bribing even just to feed him/her will give them an idea that you will bribe them for everything and they make it a point to acquire something through exhibition of reluctance.
Frightening
Frightening your child saying that a ghost will come if he/she doesn’t eat might sound light to you, but your child doesn’t think so. Threats like these petrify them. There was a beggar in my locality whom my parents made me believe would carry me away in a sack if I didn’t eat veggies. My fear didn’t remain restrained to eating veggies. I got lost while running away from that man one day when he came across me while I was playing in a nearby park. That fear was bad and I can still recall that terrible, chilly feeling. Don’t be so cruel to innocent kids.
Also, ghosts! Ghosts are entities that people are generally afraid of for no reason and they know it. No need to manually inculcate that fear in your child’s mind just to convince him/her to do something. Please, don’t. That fear just doesn’t go away.
Intimidating
This process is easy but trust my words, they affect your relationship with your child. Parents who are bad-tempered are hardly approachable to their kids. Your child doesn’t have the maturity to understand that you are doing that for his/her own good. They will only see you as a person malicious towards them. And these days it’s very important that your child has the space to share things with you. Scolding and beating only makes your child bitter. He/she might do the thing for the time being but eventually, as growing children are prone to, they will turn rebels for the simple reason that they think that you hate them. Also, intimidating parents seldom make congenial and confident kids. Kids to such parents are often aloof, upset and too conscious to be carefree and confident.
Comparison
This is another technique that parents mostly use; comparing kids with their peer and telling them that their peers are better than them. Why? Just to make them do something. Plain and simple, comparisons affect your child’s confidence level. They might start suffering from inferiority complex and fall prey to envy for the peer whom he/she is being compared with. Nothing lowers self-esteem as much as comparison. This practice thus should be abandoned at once.
It’s true that at times being patient with kids is hard but did you not sign for all these sweet pains? Too get valuable fruit it’s important to invest hard work. Patience, perseverance and love are things to be practised with children. Easy ways might lead to disastrous consequences.
