Giving your children a challenge as they enter a situation can really help things become more natural for them. It also helps elevate them up to a higher standard. This morning as I was dropping Abigail at school I said, “Abby, can you look for one girl at the playground who doesn’t seem to have anyone to play with and invite her to play with you or you and your friends?” Maybe your child is painfully shy. You could say, “Can you try and look two people in the eye when we go to the store and say, ‘Hi?’” Maybe you are taking your kids to a friends’ house. Before you go in, you could say, “Try to find an opportunity today to say, ‘How can I help you?’” Make sure to follow through on asking them about it. If they didn’t accomplish it, encourage them by saying you think they’ll be able to do it next time. Praise them like crazy if they met the challenges you set forth. There are a lot of different challenges you can ask your child to take as they are going out into our world.
