Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Works for Me Wednesday: "No" Tags



Problem: Our 14 month-old is generally pretty obedient, and when we tell her something is off limits, she almost always follows the rule. A little bit ago, however, we encountered a problem in trying to keep her from opening two of the kitchen cupboard doors (safety latches don't work very well on our particular doors). No matter how many times I scolded her, she opened them again and again.

Finally I figured out that she wasn't trying to be bad in opening them, but the rest of the cupboard doors (that weren't off limits) looked just the same, and it wasn't easy for her to distinguish the ones that she wasn't supposed to open.

Solution: I created "no" tags with a picture and the words "This is a "no" to go on the off- limit cupboards. It worked! She just needed a cue that was easily recognizable. I decided to label everything that was off limits in the apartment with the same tags. I figure that an added bonus will be that the tags are easy indicators of boundaries to show babysitters our rules.

This post is part of the Works for Me Wedneday meme at Rocksinmydryer.net

14 comments:

Unknown said...

These are fantastic. I'm past that stage, but I'll keep it mind for friends with younger kids.

Thanks.

Martie said...

What a clever idea! I'm really impressed.

Martie
mom to 9

Donna said...

Love it! Thanks for sharing this "non-verbal NO"...if I get tired of saying it, I know the kids get tired of hearing it!

Great idea, and thanks for stopping by my blog! I'll be checking back to find more great ideas on your blog! We LOVE to have fun around here!

Donna @ GrowingGreatKids.blogspot.com

Totallyscrappy said...

Brilliant! Your "no" is pretty convincing. Can I have one of those for my fridge door? :)

Anonymous said...

What a cute idea! Love that stern, finger-pointing picture too...

Veggiemomof2 said...

What a great tip!

MamaMay said...

LOL! the guitar is awesome! I will need to try this!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome idea. I definitely got a chuckle out of your creativity.

Rob & Michelle said...

Cute Cute Cute!

Stephanie said...

AWESOME! I've got a VERY independent 3 year old and one that is starting to crawl...this is PERFECT...ok not just perfect, but pure GENIUS!!! Thank you!

the blu moo said...

How cute are you! That is such a good idea. Very creative!!

Veggiemomof2 said...

What a great tip!

little wash wash said...

How cute are you! That is such a good idea. Very creative!!

MamaMay said...

LOL! the guitar is awesome! I will need to try this!