I am writing this in the midst of the "shelter in place" order in IL...I wanted to share one little tip of something that is working in my own home as far as my son communicating his choice of activity. He's almost four and is smack-dab in the middle of a super-independent streak, however he still resorts to the almighty tantrum at times when he is bored or anxious or overwhelmed. Today he told me that he wanted to do SUMPING (something) but he didn't know what. I verbally gave him the choice of a few different activities (play doh, books, dinosaurs, etc.) and he gave a dramatic, "NOT THAAAAT" with each suggestion.
I grabbed my phone and went around the house, snapping quick pictures of items representing activities that he could choose...seventeen in all (come on kid, with all of options how COULD you be bored?!). Now, you could print out the pictures if you have access to a printer to have tangible photos of choices to flip through. Or, you could do what I did - make a photo album in the phone and store the picture choices. Important - you may want to have different albums for different times OR delete out choices that are no longer relevant. Only show the child pictures that are true options!
While not every "parenting tip" works right away the first time...for whatever reason, this worked for us this morning! He looked through the pictures and chose to go play "store" in the basement. Great!
Now, how could we tie this in to verbal communication as well? If your child is able, have him or her repeat after you the choice that the/she made. For example, if my son chose a picture of Play Doh, I could say, "Oh, you want to play with the Play Doh? You tell me, Play Doh please!"
If you want to use the choice of a preferred activity as a reward for after completing a bit of school work (or cleaning a mess!), you could say, "Ok! You can have the Play Doh after work! Work first, then Play Doh!"
Keep it simple, keep talking! :)
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