They joke that kids don’t listen until mom turns into a raving lunatic. At my house, that’s no joke! My kids do not listen until I’m screaming and flailing my arms. Even then it doesn’t guarantee that they will do as they are told right away.

In a recent fit of madness it dawned on me. I’m not really sure my kids know what I mean when I say “Listen” or when I say “Behave”. I use these words A LOT! However, we’ve never really defined them. To be quite honest, we don’t really use “listen” in the right way so it’s confusing.

To test my theory, I asked my recently turned 4-year old what I mean when I say “Behave”. Her response was “don’t be mean”. So I asked what it meant when I said “Listen”? She just shrugged her shoulders.

Now I’m sure she knows that listening has something to do with hearing. So as I’m screaming, “You need to start listening!” What’s going through their minds? “We are listening, Mom. We hear what you are saying.” When what I really should be saying is, “You need to start doing as you are told”.

So it’s time for a vocabulary lesson! Defining the word “Behave”. Setting those expectations so they know what I mean and how they should react.

I can’t guarantee this will work and they will miraculously start doing as they are told. If that ever actually happens I will likely die of shock. However, it will be far less confusing. Eliminating one more reason for them not to “Listen” or do as they are told.

Now I need to work on using the right language. Then there is always the follow through on discipline. That might work, but that’s for another time. I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet. So I know they aren’t. 😉