Handling Broken Promises to Kids

Yes broken promises! This is one of those days that you just can't keep that promise.  It's really hard to win back that trust from your kids if you keep on promising and breaking it as well.

It happened a month before, my wife and I made a promise to our eldest that we are going to watch a movie.   Since Madagascar 3 was about to be shown we promised that we're going to watch it.  So, days go by and every day my eldest son would mention about it.  Take note he always points at it whenever they were shown on TV commercials.  We promised to watch it on weekend.  Then few days before the weekend, unwanted things came up.  We're kind of short that week, though we have two free pass.  So I talked to my eldest son and explained everything.  At first he would not listen to what I'm explaining to him but later on he was pacified and understand that we're kind of short in finances that week.  I just told him that when it is released in DVD we will buy one and we're going to watch it.

I'm thankful that my son understand things.  It really pays off when you truthfully tell to your son everything what is happening in the house.  So in short, my wife and I was relieved that day but we really need to get that DVD once it is out.

So what you should do if you know that you won't be able to keep that promise?  Well here's some points according to what I have experienced.

• Tell the truth about your present situation.  If you're broke tell him that you're broke.
• Tell it ahead of time.  Don't tell it on the day itself.  Make sure to tell it days before the promised date.
• Explain, explain and explain.  Explain it in a nice a calm manner. Don't get in rage if he cries you're just making it harder for him to accept it and it will make him feel bad about you.  
• Be negotiable.  Kids can easily be pacified if you negotiate with them but of course if you make another promise make sure to do that.
• Make sure your next promise is attainable.  Don't ever break that promise.

Hopefully it will help you in a way.

Another thing if you're going to promise another movie make sure to set aside funds for that or get your tickets ahead of time, whether it is a movie like the Madagascar 3 or Ice Age 4 , game like the PBA Finals, or concert like the Lady Gaga.  Just make sure of that.  Speaking of tickets if you're residing in the US ticketamerica.com has a line up of different concerts so if you want to watch get your mana tickets, ricardo arjona tickets, romeo santos tickets.  It would really ease you the hassle of cramming and lining up.

So how was it with you?