"I'm Not Your Friend, HMPH!"

[Willow]

Pouters pout in the take a break chair away from the group because no one (ie. me) wants to hear or see it

I have yet to have a kiddo pout past the first few days they try it.



Kiddos can have all the feelings they want, but persistent negativity does not get an audience here.

[Cradle2crayons]

Pouters pout in the take a break chair away from the group because no one (ie. me) wants to hear or see it

I have yet to have a kiddo pout past the first few days they try it.



Kiddos can have all the feelings they want, but persistent negativity does not get an audience here.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Pouters pout in the take a break chair away from the group because no one (ie. me) wants to hear or see it

I have yet to have a kiddo pout past the first few days they try it.



Kiddos can have all the feelings they want, but persistent negativity does not get an audience here.

Pouting annoys me to look at, to be honest, so I will likely start sending them away from the group whenever it occurs. It's the boys. They'll try to make a big deal out of them going off to pout with their arms folded and HMPHing all the way there. Both these boys are doted on at home and have no rules. Your SAHM can dote on you all she wants but the 45 hours/week you're here that won't happen.

[MNMum]

Do you let kids say to each other, "I'm not your friend! HMPH!" every time they don't get their way with another child and then go off and pout with great frequency or do you intervene?

I have this kid. It's my own. Ughhh. He has 2 older sisters that have taught him a lot of drama. I didn't intervene initially, but now I have been, as it is happening more frequently.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

We had a group discussion yesterday about why we won't be saying that any longer and what we will say instead. We talked about how our friends might feel when we say that to them and talked about if it was a nice thing to say. The children were very active in expressing their opinions about it and I had no one say it the rest of the day. "I don't want to play with you right now" was used instead.

[MsMimi]

I remind my kids to use nice words, even when they're mad. If they're saying mean things, they play by themselves until they're ready to be nice. If they pout they go sit in the quiet corner until they feel better. I don't do pouting

[MarinaVanessa]

When "I'm not going to be your friend" happens I say

"And that's okay. You don't have to be their friend if you don't want to. Go play toys" all with a pleasant smile and cheerful tone. The child is then redirected to another activity. In a few minutes the child is back to playing with the group or child anyway. Why make it a big deal.

In many cases the child is just trying to give the other child(ren) an ultimatum to get their way so if they see that it isn't going to go the way they planned they quickly learn that it's a useless phrase. The other children (that were threatened by not being friends with her) just go back to playing without said child after I say my piece which helps. our friend" comment.

If the child saying they don't want to be friends has said it because another child or children are being mean to her out of spite then I address that issue and ignore the "I don't want to be y

** I am one of those that believes that kids have a choice about whether or not they want to be friends. I don't force friendships on each other.