Helping children follow instructions by providing reasons for requests

Updated Aug 22

Imagine that every day you received a hundred instructions to follow, most of which you didn’t understand the rationale, relevancy or reason for. All day you listened to people saying things to you such as:

Do NOT put red items on a wooden table.  NEVER speak while you are holding something.  You MUST NOT blink in the kitchen!  Pink socks should not touch your hands!!  Please make sure you reverse those cushion covers BEFORE three pm.

You might learn and “know” these rules pretty quickly, but not fully understanding the reasons to the rules, make them tiresome and less likely to be followed. 

This is the world our children live in sometimes.  We often give instructions to kids before they fully understand the reasons and rationale behind these instructions. When this occurs, it is more difficult for them to be motivated to follow them.   Sure they might be able to do what we ask, but they are more likely to "forget" or not be bothered doing things exactly as asked.

This is especially true for children with big feelings, and emotional health challenges. Of course not fully understanding the reasons for instructions is not the only reason children have difficulties feeling co-operative. There are many different factors which lead to difficulties with co-operation.

But one of the ways we can support children to feel more co-operative is to try to keep spending time explaining (in reasonable, age appropriate ways) providing information and context to our requests.

Often the more information children and teens have about a range of life issues, the reasons why the things we ask them to do matter, the reason why the things we DONT want them to do causes them and us problems - the more likely they are to act in positive ways. It won’t be a quick fix - and it’s not always appropriate in every situation - but it can be helpful for many children over the long term.    

Here are some every day examples which might be appropriate for some kids:

Instead of:

“Pack up your toys now please”

When you pack up your toys, we can walk through it without falling and that way we can all stay safe.

“Only eat in the kitchen”

Please keep the food in the kitchen, then we don’t have to clean up the whole house at night time, which means there is more time to relax and watch TV after tea.

Eat your vegetables

When we eat vegetables, we look after our bodies which makes us stronger and healthier.

“Take turns with your brother”

When you let everyone have their turn in order, people feel happy and no-one gets upset.  And we can stay a bit longer because there is no fighting between you kids.

“Get dressed for school quickly please”

Getting dressed for school  before 8.30am means that you and I can have some fun talking time about the day and I won’t be getting frustrated with you.

It’s XXpm, you need to get to bed

The reason I would like you to go to bed at this time is that your brain actually grows bigger while you sleep.  When you get lots of sleep at night, you get smarter and smarter and that means you will be able to learn quicker at school and even play xbox/gaming/sport better!

Stop looking at your sister’s cards!

Please keep your eyes on your cards only.  When people cheat it means no-one really feels like playing anymore.

Stop whinging!

Please don't interrupt me while I'm talking to your Dad, because I have some information I need to give him.

Please try to talk in a normal voice

When you talk in a whiny voice, adults can feel stressed and are more likely to not listen properly to you.

A few points about how and when to give information to children.

It’s about information not guilt!  When we give reasons and information to children, it is not about trying to make a child feel guilty, or worried or resentful.  We are simply giving information and knowledge to them.  This means giving information in a calm and caring voice not an angry one.  It also means being very brief, rather than this being a lecture.  It can be more helpful to say it once, quickly and move on.

Try to sometimes give this information before or after the instruction, rather than right at the time.  If children are resisting an instruction, then sometimes giving information can turn into an argument.  To avoid this, try to give information and reasons to children before critical times.

It needs to be done at developmentally appropriate level.  Obviously giving a 2 year old complex information about what nutrients are needed for a healthy body is not going to work.  When in doubt, make information short and simple.

What about when it just becomes an argument?  If children are upset about an instruction they will naturally want to debate the reasons given.  This is not a excuse for us to refuse to provide reasons, it just means we need to put limits on how much we will talk about it.  For example, once clear information has been given, a parent can choose to not give anymore.  “I’m very sorry that you are upset, but I don’t want to talk anymore now about the reasons for this:”.

What about “just because I told you so”?  Although there are definitely times when giving explanations may not be important (or may even be unhelpful). However, giving information and reasons on a regular basis, supports children - especially those with challenges - to gradually over time be more likely to act in positive ways.

Our online resource Calm Kid Central has videos, activity sheets and tip sheets for children and parents/carers on helping children with tricky behaviour. To find out more click below: