I realize that the title of this blog makes allusions to myself in the form of Cesar Milan, otherwise known as the Dog Whisperer. It makes me seem like I ascribe to his teachings, but have subjects in human form instead. While much of what he does has no bearing on kids, there are certain aspects of training, humans and animals, that overlap.

Perhaps the most salient of these comparisons are those direct and simple “commands” that children and dogs must listen to in order to keep them and others safe. Stay! Come here! Stop!

Most every parent has experienced the anxiety that comes with increased mobility in their children. Once a baby starts crawling and exploring their world, so much of a parent’s role seems to be goal tending; protecting their belongings and their child from a disastrous meeting. These anxieties only increase as a child’s world grows from their living room to the backyard to the playground to the city sidewalks and on. So what are some ways that parents let their kids know that they’re getting too far ahead? Or that they’re approaching a street and need to stop? Or that it’s time to leave the park, but they’re kind of far from you? What are your signals? Hopefully not too much yelling and chasing are involved, but these have been known to happen.

I’ve been working on perfecting some signals that are specific to the kids that I take care of. That way when we’re on a crowded playground with lots of yelling, they’ll know that I’m “talking” to them.

#1. The ever favorite name call. “Jackson!” If you can get eye contact, even from a distance, then you’re off to a good start. Now you can proceed to signal with your hands or yell a little more to let them know what it is you need.

#2. “Freeze!” We use this one when exploring the woods. They can get pretty far ahead when they’re really going & sometimes I can’t see around those bends in the road. It’s short. I can yell it pretty loudly. And it’s not a remonstrance. Just a simple command that we’ve practiced & for which they’ve gotten praise when done. Sometimes I even unfreeze them with a touch or a hug or some “abracadabra” hand gestures.

#3. My current favorite, whistling. I have found the loudest range of my whistling & turned it into a signal that gets the 3 kids I watch to look at me. Since I’ve been working on it with them, they’ve gotten more used to it. I generally just use it to say “uh uh, put that rock down” without any words. It can be the signal for slowing down or returning to me if they’ve ridden their bike a little too far ahead. So far, it’s working brilliantly. And at least in this instance, I do feel a little like Cesar Milan. All it takes is a few notes, some eye contact, a wave or a shake of the head and they’re back on track. Hurrah! And I didn’t have to yell! Pucker up.

And so I leave you with quite the whistler. He must have no trouble getting his kids’ attention in a crowd.