Today I found myself trapped in a waiting room with a screaming baby. Well, I mean, its parents were there too, along with other waiting people suffering along with me. It was another of those moments when you could see the parents trying hard not to give in to a big tantrum. Not ignoring the kid totally, but intent on giving her no more attention than they would if she were perfectly well-behaved.
But as time went on, and the pitch of the screaming increased, it started to get harder and harder not to just buy the kid ice cream or whatever would stop it. And that's the weakness of the don't-give-in strategy: once you've committed to it, you have to keep it up no matter what the kid does. If you fold once your child reaches 120 decibels and F# above high C, you've trained her to take it to that level every time she wants your attention.
So here's how you do it: Instead of just not giving in when they make an annoying noise, do the flip side too; when your child makes a relatively nice noise, slip them the candy/toys/whatever that they want. Your child cries in an abnormally low-pitched way? Reward them! By the power of Pavlov, you'll have the least annoying child in the neighbourhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment