But whenever she tried to share these ideas with her son by reading the articles to him, he’d quickly tune her out.

Then she discovered a more subtle approach.

She simply cuts out the most important ideas she wants to share. Often, it’s just a line or two like, “Children should learn to take pride in doing their best—not being the best!”. Then she tapes them at her son’s eye level on the refrigerator or other places she knows he won’t miss.

This strategy works for several reasons, Paten believes:

• Her son doesn’t feel his mom is nagging. It’s not mom, but other people making the points.

• The points aren’t lengthy and time-consuming to read. Her son doesn’t have to wade through an entire article.

• The messages are timely. Paten selects items that relate to things her son is interested in or going through at the moment.

Copyright © Parent Institute