Do you have family or others watch your children? Do they do things that you would never do, feed your kids things you never would, or let them watch things that you don't think are appropriate? Do you think you handle it successfully or could your approach use some work? Do you ever have productive conversations with those people or do things usually get heated and out of control? Here is what recently happened to me... Last Friday Rachelle, Ari and I had a nice family day out on the town. We went to Chapters (which could be called Indigo or something else where you're from) to look at some books, grab a coffee and let Ari play with some toys. It was fun. When we finished piling into the car to start the journey home, Ari, from his back seat, said "Burger King" when we drove by the restaurant. Rachelle and I exchanged concerned looks. "How does he know what that is?" Rachelle asked, knowing full well that neither of us has ever, or would ever consider taking him to that restaurant. It didn't take us very long to figure that more than likely it was my parents who took him there. It was a big deal. To Rachelle and myself feeding our family good, nutritious, health enhancing food is a big value. We were both really upset. "How could my parents do that?" "Don't they know it's bad for him?" Those were the thoughts that started swirling through my mind. How did I handle it? What we cover: The most important thing you need to know before you enter into any type of conversation about what you don't like regarding someone's behaviour. If you miss this step you are screwed. How to keep your cool, no matter how angry or pissed off you are. How to diffuse the bomb and maintain a high level of self-esteem while still getting your point across clearly. Yes, the 'bad' behaviour was unacceptable, but if you lose sight of this one thing, everything else will get much worse.
