The Bible only rarely tells us what we shouldn’t do (like “Don’t covet another man’s wife”). Mostly it tells us what we should do (like “Delight in the wife of your youth.”) Here’s a little tip from the Parent Hacks blog that uses the same approach:
“Don’t dig in the trash can!”, “Don’t pick the neighbor’s tomatoes!” only seem to encourage her to do exactly what I’m forbidding. It’s almost as if she translates the “Don’t” as “Hey, awesome. Go ahead.”
Instead, we’ve started to tell her what TO DO. For instance, when she’s about to pick up a cigarette butt on the ground, we say “Yucky. Step on it.”. It redirects her action and becomes something she does every time she sees trash on the ground. Same for throwing food on the floor, “Put it on your tray.” It sounds so simple, but it has changed our lives.