Water the flowers, not the weeds; or, Elmo on my underpants
By Dave
July 3rd, 2008 | Leave a comment
During my wife’s training to become a speech therapist, one of her professors gave her this adage to deal with uncooperative (usually young) clients: “Water the flowers, not the weeds.” Meaning, heap praise on them when they do something that’s good, and ignore bad behavior.
Well, professor, that’s certainly easier said than done.
We bought the Elmo- and Zoe-themed big-girl underpants at Target and we’ve experimented with them at home. My daughter really likes wearing them, but hasn’t yet mastered the ability to let my wife and me know that something is coming, if you catch my meaning.
So, one weekend, after a couple of hours visiting with my in-laws, my daughter had been wearing the underpants sans diaper quite successfully. As soon as they left — they hadn’t even left the parking lot at our apartment — we hear a quiet “Uh-oh.” My daughter, looking kind of confused, had peed all over the carpet.
I won’t begrudge her that, and the trusty Resolve (thank you, Reckitt Benckiser) took care of the mess. But what’s hard is not laughing when it happens. Or when I hear my wife upstairs exclaiming, “You did such a good job pooping!”
