Marriages Worth Millions Presents:
Nine Principles of Proactive Parenting 
(adapted from Dr. Glenn Latham)

Module Eight: The Ability to Use the Poor Behavior of One Child as a Prompt to YOU
to Attend to the Appropriate Behavior
of Other Children

To help you NOT pay attention to inappropriate behavior, use the misbehavior of one child to remind you to praise another child who is behaving appropriately. 

1. When you notice that a child is misbehaving, ignore the misbehavior.
2. Look for another child who is behaving appropriately.
3. Go to him and quietly say, “I’m really glad to see you enjoying yourself so much. That _____ (name the appropriate behavior or activity) looks like fun. When you finish, I’d love to have you tell me about it.” And then walk on. Your goal here is to reinforce the good behavior you are seeing, not to create jealousy or resentment in the misbehaving child.  

Remember the old saying, “Leave well enough alone.” Leave the negative behaviors alone, and focus on the behaviors you want to see more of.​

UP NEXT: Module Nine-The Ability to Smile, Laugh, Touch, and Talk--A Lot!