Sarah Cohan | Early childhood educator
What is one piece of advice you’d share with expecting parents of their first child?
Slow down, enjoy it, and remember YOU are the parent. Do what is best for your family, not what everyone else is doing.
How do you successfully manage multiple age groups and multiple children in public places?
When taking children, whether it be one or six in public the best thing you can do is set the expectations before problems arise. I start this process prior to leaving the house by walking them through the plan of what we are doing and where we are going, then I list my expectations, keeping it simple and developmentally appropriate. When we arrive at the destination, we once again review the expectations and discuss the consequences of not following those directions. When following this technique there is no need to bribe your children to behave or reward them for good behavior. Eventually, they will only behave for the bribe or reward. It is also very important to mean what you say and say what you mean. You will only be as successful as your follow-through.
This is a dialogue you need to have every time to go someplace in public, remember you are laying the foundation of your expectations.
An example of going to Target with 3 children aged 1 year, 3 years, and 4 years.
Prior to leaving the house:
“Ok guys, we need to go to Target today, Ms. Sarah/mommy needs to get some things. When we get there we are going to stay by the cart and get our shopping done. When we are done we are going to come back home, unload and then we can play in the backyard.”
When we arrive to Target and are still in the car we have this dialogue:
Me: “Ok, we are at Target and we need to get a few things. Baby is going to sit in the cart, I need you (child 3 yrs) and you(child 4 yrs) to walk next to me, keeping your hands to yourself. If you cannot follow those directions, you will be sitting in the cart. So, what are we going to do?
Children: “Go to Target and shop.”
M: What kind of feet do we have?
C: Walking
M: Are we touching anything?
C: No.
M: What happens if you cannot follow those directions?
C: we will have to sit in the cart
M: What will we do after Target?
C: come home and play in the backyard.
M: Ok, lets go inside.
When we get inside and I get everyone situated, I once again go through the above Q&A about my expectations. Then if they cannot follow directions(which is rare but does happen), I place them in the cart, stating that they are sitting in the cart because they are not following directions and finish my shopping. Then we go home, unload and play in the backyard.
Recommend a book in the child development space to read.
Balanced and Barefoot by Angela Hanscom
What is your go-to parenting hack?
On the rare occasion that I serve a juice box, I flip the side tabs up and use those as a handle so they are not squeezing the juice all over themselves.
BIO
Married for 18 years
Mom of 3 three teens, 17, 15, 14
Bachelor’s in Early Childcare Education
17 years of ECE experience
It is my passion to provide young children with the opportunity to experience playing outside, being messy and risky, and learning to be independent. I firmly believe that every child should have the freedom to be a child.
Find Sarah
Facebook: SarahsLittles
Instagram: @sarahs_littles
Website: www.sarahslittles.com