There is at some level a difference between merely telling children to do something as opposed to teaching them why they need to do it. While children do need to learn respect for authority figures and rules, if you rely too much on just obedience, it can leave your kids ill-equipped for situations where you aren’t there or haven’t previously told them what to do. Taking the time to teach kids why you are telling them to do something can help them learn how to live in the world.

Key Takeaways:

• The author said that while staying at hotel with her husband and children, her frustration came to a boiling point when they arrived to eat breakfast.
• The children were grabbing food with their hands rather than using tongs. She was mad at them. She wanted to yell at them whether they were raised by animals.
• The author, a parent, then realized that the children weren’t in the wrong because they don’t use tongs at home and she didn’t give them a buffet guideline talk.

“Then in my heart, I felt a level of conviction as I said the word tongs. It occurred to me that we don’t normally keep tongs laying around at home for the boys to grab their food. And we really don’t eat at buffets when we go out to eat.”

Read more: https://www.baby-chick.com/teaching-children-vs-telling-them-the-parenting-hack-to-reduce-frustration/