Listening & Cooperation

Helping your child listen and follow directions

You ask three times and nothing moves. Often it is not refusal — it is a child deep in something else, with no bridge to the next thing.

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What your child may be practising

Stopping and turning towards the person speaking
Holding one instruction at a time
Using a warning to prepare for a change
Finishing the step before the next one starts

How a Maple Kids story approaches it

1The story shows the transition, not the telling-off.
2The hero uses a listening signal they can recognize.
3The Parent Guide keeps instructions short and singular.
4The practice builds a shared “first, then” habit.

Story preview · Page 4

Leo's ears were busy with the spaceship. Then he heard the two-minute song. First the ship lands, then shoes on. Leo knew the order now.

Parent Guide preview

What this page is doing

Turning an abstract instruction into a predictable two-step sequence.

Ask

“What helped Leo know it was nearly time?”“What could our two-minute signal be?”

Words to repeat

“First shoes, then the door. I'll wait for you.”

Try it in real life

Give one two-minute warning before the next change today.

Why stories can help with this

Shared Reading & Behavior
Randomized research has found that interventions promoting parent-child shared reading and play can improve pathways associated with children's behavioral outcomes.
Weisleder A, Cates CB, Harding JF, et al. “Links between Shared Reading and Play, Parent Psychosocial Functioning, and Child Behavior: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of Pediatrics. 2019;213:187-195.e1.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.06.037
Shared Reading & Development
The American Academy of Pediatrics states that shared reading can support parent-child relationships and social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy development.
Klass P, Miller-Fitzwater A, High PC, et al. “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice.” Pediatrics. 2024;154(6):e2024069090.
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-069090

These studies examine shared reading and picture books in general. They did not test Maple Kids. Maple Kids is an educational parenting tool and not medical, psychological, diagnostic or therapeutic care.

Read the Research

Ready to build a story around following directions?