Lately our kids seem to be grumpier than usual, and get extremely irritated with each other over any little thing. Not sure if there is a root cause, or just bad habits lately in how they treat each other. After a particularly trying day today with errands and driving, my husband and I had enough and we had the silent game for little while and quiet time when we got home. So, at dinner, when everyone was in a little better mood, we started talking about the case of the grumpies we have had and how important it is we treat each other with kindness. We came up with a three ways to better behave in the car:
1. Self control. Be in charge of you. Try hard to not get irritated about things! Try not to irritate others around you. Make an effort to be patient.
2. Make the right choice. If someone asks you something, make the right choice and respond nicely. If you are feeling grumpy or sad, make the right choice and look out the window, at a book, or close your eyes. If you accidentally do something that hurts or bothers
3. Use a nice voice to others. Talking nicely to others around you is not only better for a small space like the car, but it is one of the most important things we need to learn. We need to treat others with more love, and talking nicer is one way to do that.
My youngest then piped up and said “nice voices, nice choices.” I thought that perfectly summed it up! This will now be our go-to phrase to remind kids the behavior we want to see in the car.
I love that this phrase is simple, and would work for many different ages–even for the youngest travelers.
So my question for you–do you have a family phrase you say often to help bring out best behavior?
If you don’t have one yet, my challenge is to either use “nice voices, nice choices” or find one! Think about the behavior you need to most work on, and find a very short phrase. Teach the phrase to your kids before it is needed, so that when the next hard time rolls around, you’ll be ready!
Don’t forget to share your family phrase here. I’d love to hear about it 
