Why redirect vs "no"

firemansflame

Just curious.  I was reading another post that got me thinking that there is probably a whole "redirect" philosophy that I'm not aware of.

howleyshell

Because if you "no" everything they're not gonna be responsive when it's a really important "no" like running into the street.

We save "No" for the big dangerous things, try redirection for the rest, and only use "no" when followed by an explaination.

 The main word I would speak daily would be "no" if I used it every time I wanted to or was naturally inclined to. 

"No" tends to set up power struggles. 

JillRock96

You also want to teach the desired behavior.  Instead of just telling what not to do, redirection teaches what they should do instead.  Just a little example -- instead of just saying "no" when a child attempts to pull a dog's tail, you can teach the child "gentle" when they want to interact with the dog.

sara1014

I just read something on this too about how lots of times they will then start saying "no" right back at ya...and that's not going to get you anywhere.

With my 8th graders, I'd find that even if I used a "uh-huh" noise of sorts instead of a "no", they'd stop what they were doing faster than if I said no....kind of like I learned in puppy training class.  I have a feeling I'm going to slip sometimes and use my puppy training skills on the babies too.