Why it's important for children to properly understand ‘no’ and ‘stop’
Empty threats without real consequences can set children up for trouble in life, warns parenting expert Nikki Bush.
Parenting, child in hat grimacing. Pixabay/MAGGY BURLET
702's Gugs Mhlungu is joined by human potential and parenting expert, Nikki Bush.
It's hugely important for children to understand the words 'no' and 'stop', not only for the sake of family life, but for their own lives into the future.
We live in quite a permissive world today where parents are more inclined to say 'yes' to their children than 'no', remarks Nikki Bush.
Parents should understand that they need to be the authority in their child's life, she emphasizes.
"Boundaries are becoming pretty vague. In the worst-case scenario, if children don't know where the cut-off point is, they can quite literally get away with murder and they won't take you seriously."
Nikki Bush, Parenting Expert
The words 'no' and 'stop' can protect a child from a lot of pain and trouble, even saving their life or keeping them from acquiring a criminal record, Bush goes on.
Think of a toddler for instance pulling at the cord of a hot kettle, or an older child committing a crime.
We need to follow through with the consequences we've laid out, or children will become used to empty threats.
Bush also raises the danger of sexual encounters going wrong, if these important words aren't properly understood at an early age.
"A child who doesn’t understand that ‘no means no, right now’ and ‘stop means stop, this very minute’, may well land up in a sexual situation one day where they overstep the verbal boundary and what started out as the beginnings of a sexual encounter could turn into rape. "
Nikki Bush, Parenting Expert
She urges parents to do it right, from the start.
"If you are not clear about the meaning of these words, your children won’t be either."
Nikki Bush, Parenting Expert
For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article