Three Things that Make Everything Easier

“I always walk the same way to my local café, with my little pug trotting along happily by my side, confident in the direction we walk. In fact, he’s almost cocky, as if he’s showing me how to get there,” writes Tara V. Katz in her article, “Helping Children through Daily Transitions,” that forms the basis of an Out of the Box Training Kit of the same name. 

“Then one day I decided to walk a different way,” Katz explains. “Poor Pablo immediately loses confidence and looks at me as if to say, ‘What next?’ Even though the change was slight and we ended up in the same place, he was confused.

Dogs, like children, are creatures of habit. Children also love knowing what is coming next and are confident in rhythms and routines. When familiar rhythms are thrown off, children struggle: we see tears and tantrums. So how can we guide children through the ebb and flow of daily life? These are three things I’ve found that help make everything a little easier:

• singing
• only giving choices when they’re real
• less truly is more

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