Ifeoma And The Cursed Forest

Ifeoma, was a beautiful and kind little girl. Her parents wer Obi and Nneka. They loved their little girl.

Nneka decided to teach her daughter a lot of things. Including warning Ifeoma of dangers in their village. She told her a story, that happened years before Nneka had her daughter. And gave the instruction: "do not go to the cursed forest so you do not get hurt". As usual, I promise not to spoil it for you. Please listen to the podcast below:

storytelling with Ngozi

Lessons We Learn From The Ifeoma's Story

For you little ones, although Ifeoma escaped getting hurt, it not the same for every child who disobeys. Always follow instructions.

And treat everyone with kindness. Do not act like Amara who had to be punished before she agreed to treat others nicely.

For your activity this week, take a moment to think seriously of any instructions your mom or dad has given you, and how you intend following these instructions. If possible, write them down as a note to yourself and read them every day so, you remember. I wish you the best as you follow instructions.

How To Help Your Child Follow Your Instructions

I wish I could say I always get it right when it comes to giving instructions and following them throug. No parent ever does. And children are different. Some follw instructions easily others don't.

However I have found the following five tips works. Try them and see if they work for you. 

  1. Show them examples of people who follow instructions and those who did not and the outcomes. I teach my children Bible stories, and they have benefitted from this. You could also tell them your own experience and truthfully let them know what you did wrong and what you could have done better. Or what you did right that worked and why they should do the same.
  2. Set clear boundaries and give clear instructions. Some kids don't follow instructions because they did not understand the instructions. So, make it clear and ask them to repeat the instruction back to you.
  3. Let them be a part of the instruction. For instance, if you tell your child not to speak with strangers, ask them to tell you what could happen. And afterwards ask them, if you were the parent, what will you tell your child? Yes, let work out what the instructions should be themselves so, they remember what it is.
  4. Set clear consequences for disobedience and follow through on it. Make sure what you said will happen does so, they no you mean it.
  5. Where possible, negotiate. If it does not hurt, you may sometimes loosen the rules. For instance, moving bedtime for about an hour because grandma is visiting may not hurt as a one-off as long as you don't do that every time. Also, let others, like grandma, know a rule is a rule. And children should learn to follow instructions.

    6. These are my top five tips. Please share yours with us using the box below or comment.

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