Written words leave more impact than verbal. Writing wishes of children brings certain assurance to them. Explore if you would like play with this mighty tool.
Perhaps this incident will ring a familiar bell: We were in a bookstore when my daughter was 2-1/2 yrs, who is very fond of books, also wanted to buy a few. She went about picking the books, some, which she already has. As usual, we said “No, you have these books so we cannot buy them now. No, just few days back we bought you books.”
As expected this did not deter her, leading to insistence and then crying. More we tried explaining and pressurizing, more the situation became embarrassing. I decided to change my channel and took out one pen and paper and started writing all the books she wanted to buy. I made small graphic for each book and wrote the names. Below in block letters I wrote “… wants to buy these books”. She took that paper and got involved in reviewing her wish list. She came out of the shop happily. She kept that paper with her. At home we checked all the books we had and made a note of what all we did not have from the list.
This write-the-wish strategy worked again. She used to cry in the middle of the night and used to take 30-45 minutes to goes back to sleep. One night before going to sleep, we talked to her about this. Finally, we wrote on a paper “When I am feeling uncomfortable, I will come and hug mummy or papa and then go back to sleep”. We repeated this several times and went to sleep – not only in the night whenever she cries in the day time she keep reminds herself. This worked in spite of her not knowing how to read! After these two incidences, we made a notebook in which writes all her wishes and things our wishes related to her behavior; and it is working wonders.
Why it works is – writing down a wish makes children feel that this wish is being taken seriously, they feel respected and feel reassured. They also take written word more seriously – remember most of our instructions, commands, fights (and there are many) are verbal.
So next time you face a stand-off, just write their wish or your wish down and let the magic of the written word begun.
At Aarohi we write in many different forms
- We write our reflection
- We write our wishes
- We write our dreams
- We write our plans
- We write what I would like to do in different situations
- We write notes to parents
- We write our concerns
- We write when we need help
We write…..