The five-minute rule
It is always a tough task to get your child to listen to you. However, blogger, Trentae Taylor discovered that preschool teachers know all the tips and tricks there are to training a child to listen. Preschool teachers have no trouble getting children to clean up, eat or even sleep, but how do they do it? The trick is to use a “time warning”.
A five-minute warning is given to the children, and after the five minutes are up, they are ready to clean up and go to lunch. This five minute warning, is otherwise known as the five-minute rule. Children know exactly how to transition a child from one activity to the next. Who knew that all it takes to get your child to listen is a simple time-limit-transition from one activity to the next.
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Four ways to transition your child
Here are four ways to get your started on transitioning your child from one activity to another:
1. Food
Getting your child to eat can be difficult. Remember to use several timely warnings when it comes to feeding your child. Thirty minutes before you are ready to feed them, tell your child that its lunch time in half an hour. When you’re ready to feed, tell your child that she has five minutes to clean up. Start cleaning up with her.
2. Getting ready
There are many areas in which you should transition your child when it comes to getting ready in the morning. First theres the brushing of the teeth, and then the drinking of the milk, the shower, and putting on clothes. Prompting your child before each activity is always useful. For example, if it’s time for your child to take a shower, after they drink their milk, tell them that it’s time to take a shower soon. Children need this amount of time to get ready to do the next activity.
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3. Going to bed
Currently, your routine might be to read books at night to transition your child for bed time, may be sing lullabies or even simply have a conversation. Although these methods are effective and generally work in getting your child to sleep, it would save you a lot of time and energy to just transition your child using the “time method”. Use the five-minute rule, and prepare your child for bed.
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4. Play time
When your child is out playing with friends, its almost impossible to get a hold of them. Raising your voice and telling your child that play time is over would only anger them. Play time is most likely a favourite activity of your child. So to transition your child from play time, it will take a little more than just the five-minute rule. Before your child goes out to play, you will have to tell them that they have an hour to play. Then once more, as a reminder, tell them they have thirty minutes before play time is over, and finally, enforce the five-minute rule.
Did this article help? If so, how? We’d love to hear from you! Watch this video for a look into disciplining your child based on their age: