How To Get Lauren To Do Something

Now that I've typed that title, I'm thinking I should put a question mark at the end, because Lauren is almost three and I haven't found a foolproof way to get her to do something. I normally am not a believer in astrology, but I saw a "Your Child's Sign!" article that summed her up well. It said, "Aries children don't like being told what to do." Boy, they got that right.

What I'm saying is that we have a stubborn little kiddo. If you tell her to do something, she won't do it. If you ask her to do something, she likely won't do it. If you ask her nicely to do something, she might maybe potentially think about it. I've discovered two things that have about a 70% success rate: distraction (aka turning it into a game) and leaving her the heck alone.

Taking the focus off of what it is you want her to do and then making it into a game is a great, great thing. She pretty easily can be convinced to pick up all the blue blocks and then the green ones and then the red until they're all up. Being silly while getting her dressed helps tremendously and tickling her during a diaper change makes it all the more pleasant. I like this one the best.

Leaving her the heck alone works wonders. If you tell her you want her to do something and she doesn't immediately do it, nagging her won't help. Stepping back and leaving her to what she's doing will often lead to her doing what you asked in due time. This is not a tactic that works when you're in a hurry, of course.

If you can't do either of those things, it's a crapshoot. Sometimes it works to tell her, "If you do x, you can do y that much faster." Sometimes it works to pretend you're going to go ahead and do it yourself; she doesn't like to be upstaged. Sometimes it works to just give up entirely and do it yourself. She would tell you that that's her favorite, I'm sure.



A quick funny Lauren comment from this morning:

I was getting ready for work in the bathroom. Lauren was already dressed and was kind of wandering around the house. She came into the bathroom and said, "I'm back, Mama!" I said, "You're back? Okay!" to which she said, "It's a miracle!"

That's right, kiddo. It's a miracle.