Shana The best quality you can have when working with children is…

@vyeoh I hope it’s okay if I steal your tags and expand on them.

I have found it very effective to focus on how children’s behavior affects others, including me, before focusing on their personal risk.

When I tell kids, “Stop doing that because you might get hurt,” the most common responses are, “No, I won’t do that,” or “If I do, I don’t care.”

I have found that it is actually much more effective to bring someone else’s feelings and responsibilities into the mix so that they understand OTHERS better. Examples vary by age, but might look like this:

1) I know YOU feel good when you’re hanging from the top rail, but you make me very scared and nervous. Would you please stop so I don’t feel scared and nervous anymore?

2) I understand that YOU are willing to take the consequences if you open the fire alarm door, but if you do, I have to talk to the camp leader and write an incident report. That means we can’t play mafia in our free time today.

3) Hey. I know the street looks empty right now and we’re having fun, but if a car comes around the corner and hits you, I’m going to have to drive you to the emergency room and call your mom too. I really don’t want to tell your mom that I was watching you and you got hit.