The Sassy Kid on the Cruise Ship

Recently my husband and I went on a cruise. We enjoy cruising in part because of the entertainment. The evening began with a comic who was family oriented and quite funny. The audience was very responsive and laughed often. One of the comments he used frequently after telling a joke was:
“Thanks for getting that!”

After saying this several times all of a sudden a young boy shouted out, “I didn’t get any of your jokes!” This brought a huge response of laughter from the audience. A seasoned professional; the comic handled it well and began a dialogue with the boy. The child was sassy, but the comedian kept the exchange light hearted.

Next appearing was a magician who was looking for a “helper” with his card trick. The boy had become somewhat of a celebrity by now, so no surprise-he got picked to go on stage.

Later that week the magician had an informal Q & A with the audience. He explained why he always selected a boy as his “helper” for his card dropping trick. The audience would laugh up to 15 drops if a boy was picking them up, but could tolerate only 3 drops with a girl. A microphone was passed around for questions-and who should grab it-the sassy kid.

His comment, “Well I didn’t like it after the 3^rd drop and I didn’t like it when you called me klutzy.”

The magician smiled, apologized and moved on.

After the show, the mom happened to be sitting next to me and shared how embarrassed she is over his comments and was at a loss as to what to do.

I hear this comment a lot.

As a parent educator, a frequent dilemma expressed by parents is they feel ill-equipped to deal with misbehavior. Time outs don’t seem to be effective. They are tired of taking things away and putting kids on restriction. Frustrated and frazzled, they realize they don’t have enough “tools” in their parent tool kit. They need more strategies to deal effectively and lovingly with kids acting up.

Can you relate?

Tired of your child’s arguing? Would you like a way to increase cooperation? Get kids to contribute to household responsibilities? Stop dawdling? Deliver effective consequences that don’t make you look like the bad guy?

I teach a parenting program that is both loving and effective and will give you the tools you need to parent successfully. Love and Logic® is a nationally recognized program that has been around for more than 30 years and offers 12 tools to add to your parent toolkit. 

If you would to learn more, please join me this Sunday Aug 26 12:30 at Peninsula Bible Church or Tuesday Sept 18 at Redeemer Lutheran School 468 Grand St Redwood City, for a FREE Introduction to the Love and Logic parenting program.

Want to know how I helped the mom of the sassy kid? Join us and find out-you will learn the same tools!  

Janada Clark teaches parent education using Love and Logic at Stanford, preschools and schools in our community. Her parent education classes are a well-respected resource for parents. To register or for more class information please visit www.janadaclark.com Kike to schedule a complimentary parent coaching session to help with a parenting issue?  Email clearpathcoaching@msn.com Visit her Facebook page www.facebook.com/clearpatheducation for parent testimonies or to post your parenting questions.