Stop The Whining!
Have you had about as much whining as you can handle? Do you want to know a tried and tested way to teach your children to speak nicely to you? You've come to the right place! I'm not a big fan of whining myself. Especially repeated whining from 6 kids at once!
The bible says that "a nagging wife is like a dripping tap," and "it's better to live on the roof than in a house with a nagging wife." The same is true of nagging, whining children!
Being spoken to disrespectfully for hours and hours on end can cause parents to lose the plot. It is infuriating and feels rather abusive to be bossed around and pulled in every direction and spoken to like the answer to the whined request is the most important thing in the world, and you, the fulfiller of the request, are worth nothing!
So what is it exactly that we want to stop? Let's define the elements of whining that drive us crazy:
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the tone of voice that defines whining, e.g. "Mooooom, so-and-so is not playing with meeeee!"
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the repeating of a phrase or request over and over without giving you half a chance to answer e.g. "Can I have some juice? Can I have some juice? Can I have some juice?"
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nagging for something that has already been denied, e.g. "But we want to swim! Why can't we swim? Please can we? We want to!"
I think a key to combatting whining lies a phrase mentioned earlier - "you, the fulfiller of the request, are worth nothing." Too many children today have been so well "loved" and well served that their servants (their parents!) have become as invisible as the slaves of old. To them, you exist to fulfil their needs and desires, and your own needs, desires and person are, if not irrelevant, at least unthought of.
Teaching respect is everything. A culture of respect is essential in our homes both from us and from our kids. Start with reading up on respect if you feel that would help, or alternatively go straight to the particular element of whining you want to combat first:
Hope those help!!
Have An Effective Method To Stop Whining?
Do you have your own method of stopping (well, at least minimising) the whining, nagging and complaining in your house? Share it with our community of parents and we'd be forever grateful! We'll even add a web page to this site built around your contribution.