Silent Parenting

This morning, by accident, I had to get Danny ready for the bus without using a word. Our usual routine is me running around nagging at him that "The bus is coming, the bus is coming! Get your clothes on, let's brush your hair, brush your teeth, etc." But this morning, I started whitening my teeth and had a whitening tray in my mouth so I couldn't talk. I had to get him ready with just hand gestures and facial expressions alone.

You know what? It worked wonderfully! Not only did Danny listen and do everything he was supposed to but we didn't have to listen to my nagging. And I found it easy to communicate to him just by using my hands. There was only one time he didn't fully understand what I was wanting him to do but he quickly figured out that I wanted him to put his backpack on.

This worked so well that I'm thinking of doing it every morning. It will save my sanity and everyone else's in the household.