Teacher’s Corner

Writing Prompts and Discussion Topics on the Subject of Children Saying “No”

1. Describe a time when you observed a young child having a temper tantrum. How did the adults react? Were they angry? Giving in to the child? Based on the blog, Four Things to Do When Your Child Says “No” what advice would you give adults in this situation?
2. Do you think older kids have tantrums too? How are they alike or different from what you observed with a young child?
3. What do you think the best response to an older kid’s “tantrum” should be? Why do you think this response is a good one?

Read more about children and no-saying at:

The Benefits of Art, Choices, and Discipline: Part II.

What It Means When Children Say “No!”

Teachers, you can use this blog in classrooms. Here are two ideas about how.

1. For middle or high school parenting or child development courses:

• Use the blog for discussion topics
• Require students to research the topics and agree or disagree with what the blog is suggesting.

2.  For all courses, especially English Language Arts:

• Use the blog for writing prompts for paragraphs, theme papers, journal entries, class starters, etc. Have students read the blog and respond to:
  • Do you agree with what is being said about kids? Do kids really act, think or feel that way?
  • Do you agree with what is being said about parents, grandparents, teachers and child caregivers? Do or should they act, think or feel that way?
  • What would be your advice on this topic?
  • What was left out of this article?
  • If you were a parent, would you use any of this information? How?

Why can this blog be a useful teaching tool?

• Students that see connections between their coursework and their lives do better in school.
• Most students will either be parents one day or have children in their lives that they care about, so the topical information can help them build their knowledge about children and parenting and develop a positive image of the type of parenting they want to do.
• The new core literacy standards adopted by most states call for frequent writing in all courses.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can think critically. These prompts help students practice critical thinking.
• Newly developed end-of-course assessments to be used by many states will require that students demonstrate that they can analyze what they read. These prompts help students practice analysis.