Hellobee Boards

I told LO to say "No. Stop that." Or "I don't like that" or even "no, thank you!" And put his hands up to them in a stop gesture. It obviously worked eventually, because his preschool teachers told me the other day "he's not mean about it, but he has no problem asserting himself."

We role-played a lot, which I think helped it stick.

I had conversations and taught LO, "I don't like that!" That worked!

They teach the kids at daycare to stick their arms out and firmly say, "STOP! Don't push me". Kind of like the gesture people think of when a slow moving car approaches a traffic controller. I think it works, but it's only because they seem to reinforce not pushing or hitting at her daycare. I observed one of the babies (1 yr old) throw her small security blanket/animal at another 1 yr old and one of the teachers stopped what she was doing to tell the kid to not do that and that we don't hit. The other baby repeated the gesture and the teacher repeated the lecture. Perhaps bring it up to the teachers and see what they advise?

They teach the kids, "no thank you!" at E's school, and she's started using it recently...with a finger waggle that I'm not sure who she picked up it from

At LO's school they teach the kids to firmly say "no, thank you!" when someone is pushing or otherwise up in their space and not being friendly.

I also tell LO to ignore people who are being mean or hurting people's feelings - to ignore what they say, I mean, but to say "no, thank you" if they are being mean and to tell a teacher if she needs to. I'm hoping to instill the same DGAF attitude I apparently had as a little kid towards bullies! Also, to tell teachers if someone isn't listening to her words.

@Mama Bird: regardless of the situation, I think it's important to teach LOs to use their words. This is something we are very actively working on with DD1 (almost 4). She's definitely not a pushover, but when a friend takes her toy, or is in her space, etc. Her gut reaction was to scream. And lately she has started getting physical which is definitely NOT ok. we are very actively working on using words at home and her teachers are following through at school as well.

@Mama Bird: DS1 used to burst into tears anytime something like this happened. Or he would whine and look at me to do something. I started telling him to use his words and let the other kid know how he was feeling. "I don't like that" or "no thank you" are his preferred phrases as well. I think once I started telling him to use his words, he would stop crying and do that, but it took time. He's also 3.5.