The Three C’s of Child Training

I have noticed, looking back, that I made many posts, while I was pregnant, pondering the possible similarities between training a horse and training a child. I haven’t done any since having her at least partially because I don’t want to curse myself.  If I say that I have this down then she may turn out awful. Still I feel safe in saying that there are many strong similarities. They are creatures who don’t speak and communicate through actions.

Up late one night feeding The Goblin Child I decided that I would go on the clinic circuit offering my training advice, for horses and children, to the millions. For millions of course. It was such a simple concept, my training theory. The secret to training is for the trainer to possess a few important qualities.

The next morning I couldn’t remember what my great training strategy had been. All I knew was that I would market it as The Three C’s. Occasionally I would remember one or two and I would imagine what life on the road would be like as I offered my genius to the masses. If only I could remember all three at once. The amazing loss of sleep involved in the first year of parenting was a handy excuse for my forgetfulness.

Then one day I remembered. It was great, the child started sleeping through the night and it came to me. There was just one problem. The qualities didn’t actually start with C. It blew my whole spiel. Not to mention it was a little embarrassing but who can remember how to spell at two in the morning. I still stand by the importance of my three c’s even if they don’t all start with c.

Calm, Quiet and Confident.

It would have been so great we could have given Clinton Anderson a run for his money. Oh well, I shall have to confine my training to my own child. Poor thing, she is receiving all my pent up need to train. This is every bit as much fun as training a horse, just a little longer in seeing results. That all important proper timing for the release of pressure, making sure you are rewarding the right thing, is still the most important. I do spend some time wishing that we could go for lessons. As with horses it’s important to know what the goal is and while I understand the end goal some of the smaller day to day goals are a little harder to pinpoint.

A horse is started after two, we work on giving to pressure on the ground, giving to the bit and saddling. When is the proper point to teach a child to drink from a real cup? Use a spoon? We work, we play but without shows how do we compare? Oh well, I suppose that would be even worse for children than it can be for horses.

Oh, wait.