My wife was dropping our son off at school yesterday. While she was talking to the teacher, our son picked up a large handful of play-dough and started banging it against a window. Before my wife could escape out of the classroom, the teacher immediately took control. She said to our son, "John, I see that you like to play with play-dough, do you want to play with it at the table?" Our son took one look at the teacher, and then immediately went to the table and started to play. No confrontation, no running across the room, no yelling.
Lets break that down. First, she used our child's name to get his attention rather than out of anger. Second, she acknowledge what our kid was doing without judgement. Now she has his interest. Third, she redirected him and gave him a positive action that he could follow.
Time and time again, I have read that the only way to get people to do the thing that you want them to do is to find out what they like to do. My wife and I just got a lesson from a preschool teacher.
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