The Eyes Have It - Incorporating Visual Cues Into Your Child's Routine
June 27, 2009 | By
In a previous article, I wrote about incorporating audio cues into your child's routine, so this time I'm going to talk about incorporating visual cues as yet another way to save your voice.
We all know the child who doesn't miss a trick. He's the one who wants a formal announcement if there's going to be a change in his routine. He's the one who can tell you how to get home from the new mall that just opened when you get lost. He's the one, who when you were halfway there and realized you forgot you purse, was quietly holding it in the back seat.
Our lives are filled with visual cues: stoplights, the flag on your mailbox, the open/closed sign at the video store, the darkening sky before a storm. If you have a child who's always reminding you that you just drove right through a stop sign, then you might find that using visual cues lead to a better outcome with your chlid versus reminding him that, "This is your last warning."
Using the stoplight analogy works very well because even preschool children grasp the concept of go, slow down, and stop, so take a piece of black poster board (81/2" x 11"), laminate it with clear contact paper, cut out three circles about the size of a soup can using construction paper or poster board (one green, one yellow, and one red), laminate those and then attach them to your stoplight with velcro. Next, sit down with your child(ren) and explain that you're going to hang the stoplight in a place where it he can easily see it, and that the stoplight will stay on green as long as everyone plays nicely and doesn't break any rules. (The yellow and red circles stay with you.) If your child starts to misbehave or breaks a rule, then you exchange the green for a yellow. You don't have to say anything, just swap it out an
d walk away. Explain that if you have to come back again and make it red, then it's time to stop playing or go to time out. Of course, if you move it to yellow, and your child corrects his behavior, then go back and switch it green immediately to reinforce the positive behavior. I've seen this system work flawlessly in a room full of twenty-eight fourth graders. You can always reward your child with an extra story at bedtime for staying on green all day!
Another good visual tool and a way to instill self-confidence in your child(ren) is to have a Silent Smile jar. A Silent Smile jar is just a clear container that you fill with beans or beads each time you see your child doing something you like. You don't need to make a big deal about it; just go over, open the jar, and fill it up a little more, enough so that your child can see the progress. Most children will hear the jar open, and you can just put your finger over your lips and remind me that it's a Silent Smile and give them a big hug. Be sure they know that when the jar is full, you'll do something special with them so they can look forward to it. And you can always take beans out of the jar if you have to, but when you do, don't make a big deal about it; just take them out and put them back where they came from. Most childen will do anything to get those beans back!
Using audio and visual cues helps your child be responsible for his own behavior which in turn gives him a sense of pride. Children tend to thrive and gobble up knowledge when they feel in control of their lives and giving them tihs type of 'control' helps them feel secure in the choices they make. Ultimately, we're all the sum of the choices we make, so it's never too early to start.
Top photo is My Hero from Amy Short at Etsy. Bottom photo is Traffic Light by Crazimay5er at Etsy.
Lori is the owner of a quirky jewelry asylum called Risky Beads and the founder of Handmade Highway.
All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior
written permission of HandmadeNews.org.
