Question from my CM group about the CM Habit Training – Sonya?

There was a verbal component. The mom called the child to come back and said, “I promised I would remind you.” We can use verbal communication, but the goal is not to tell the child what to do. So, for example, if a child is working on the habit of cleaning the kitchen; you’ve had your initial talk about how much that habit will help and you walk into the kitchen to see dirty dishes or dirty countertops. You call the child back to the kitchen and might say, “You’re not done here” or you could say, “Look around and tell me what’s wrong” or “I think you can do better.” The verbal is necessary to capture and direct the attention. What you don’t want to do is call the child into the kitchen and say, “Look at the dirty dishes and dirty countertop. You need to clean those.” Then the child doesn’t have to do any thinking for himself. A habit isn’t a habit until it is done without supervision. You want to encourage thinking for himself.

Does that help any?