I have been asked by many people, “How do you get an entire group of active, busy preschoolers to listen to you?” Or, on a simpler note, “How do you get your own preschooler to listen to you?”
The answer is the same. I don’t yell. I have discovered in my years of working with children that the more you yell, the more children “tune you out.” Quite frankly, that is the same case with pets! Yelling or shouting the same thing over and over again very loudly is not the solution to any problem. My advice–lower your voice, even whisper. It works like a charm.
I remember the day I was doing my music student teaching and when I walked into my classroom the children were yelling and laughing and were completely out of control. I did not say a thing. Instead I calmly put a chair in the front of the room and stood on top of it, just looking at the children. Every single child in the room stopped talking and looked at me as if to say, “What on earth is this teacher doing?” Once everyone was quiet, I started to talk–softly, almost in a whisper. The only way they could hear me, was to listen. It worked. From that day on I have used this idea to calm children and get them to listen.
If one particular child is the instigator and is stirring up the group, I will go up to that particular child, squat down to the child’s level, look him or her in the eye and begin to speak with them very softly–and they will listen.
So, the next time you are home with your children and you want them to listen to you, go up to the one you want to get your point across to and get very close to them, look them in the eye, touch them on the shoulder–and whisper. They will be so amazed they will stop to hear what you have to say. (And then, because you are so close to them, you can hear what they have to say without them needing to shout either.)
Try it. You will like it!