SAY WHAT YOU WANT YOUR CHILD TO SAY

Recently my niece, TT, is into 'Kaycee & Rachel in Wonderland'. Now, who is this Kaycee and Rachel? (Hint: Check out the Youtube video below)

With this new interest, TT wants me to role play 'Kaycee & Rachel' with her; she is the younger sister, Rachel while I am the older sister Kaycee. Even though I know nuts about the two girls, being the coolest Aunt, I had to oblige.

So from the moment I said 'yes', TT has been calling me 'Kaycee'. After hearing 'Kaycee', 'Kaycee', 'Kaycee' thousands of times, I started calling TT 'Kaycee' instead of 'Rachel'. And this does not sit well with TT. #coolauntfailed

Suddenly I was reminded of the many children I work with...

When asking for water... they say 'What do you want?'
When asking for cookies... they say 'What must you say?'
When asking for more cookies... they say 'You want more?'
When asking for a toy car... they say 'You want car, yes or no?'

Why do they do that? It is just like how I kept calling TT 'Kaycee' instead of 'Rachel'... because that is what I hear most!

'What do you want?', 'What must you say?', 'You want more?', 'You want car, yes or no?' are what the children hear most often when they gesture for those items. It is on REPEAT mode in their heads. So when they want something, understandably they will say 'What do you want?', 'What must you say?', 'You want more?' and 'You want car, yes or not?'

So what can we do? What should we put on REPEAT mode in these children's heads?

When they ask for water... you say 'I want water.'
When they ask for cookies... you say 'I want cookies.'
When they ask for more cookies... you say 'I want more cookies.'
When they ask for a toy car... you say 'I want car.'

With 'I want water.', 'I want cookies.', 'I want more cookies.' and 'I want car.' on REPEAT mode in these children's heads, guess what they will say when they want water, (more) cookies and a toy car in the future?

So, let's start saying what we want our children to say.