Polly Bath: We are really good at telling kids what not to do. But we fall short in telling kids what we want to see them do.

So, instead of basing our value system on what it is when a child is NOT responsible or when they are NOT showing community, we should base it on what it looks like when they ARE responsible and showing community.

For example, don’t say “No coming in late. No coming in early.” Say, “Be on time.”

Stop with all the no’s and tell them what you want!

Again, we’re very good at telling kids what they’re doing wrong, we’re not so good at telling kids what they’re doing right. This doesn’t mean we have to catch them doing something right. It just means we need to tell them what we’re expecting to see from them.