My friend Jan called me the other night. She had been out to eat and was disturbed by a mother berating her son for misbehaving. Loudly the mother exclaimed, "I can't take you anywhere, you are an embarrassment!" and she said other degrading things. I think maybe she was an embarrassment to her son as well.
My friend Tina told me that years ago, I had given her a good piece of advice that she had used in her child rearing. Tina was going to MSU to get her Master's Degree and she had a test and a sick child. Since I was a stay at home mom at the time, Tina called me and asked me to watch her sick child, which I did. When Tina came to pick her up, I told her how well behaved she was. To which she replied something like, "Well, she was good for you but not always for me!" I took Tina aside and told her that I had just read that you should always let your children hear you talk positively about them in front of others and if someone compliments your children you should humbly agree with them. (I hope I have followed my own advice!) Anyway, Tina told me that she always remembered this little tidbit and tried to follow it and now her daughter has a son of her own and Tina has passed down this advice to her.
If only the lady in the restaurant had read the same article! Positive reinforcement works so much better!
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