Last week I had the honor of presenting at the Young Child’s Expo, an incredible conference held in New York City.

And afterwards it felt GREAT!

It’s officially a three-day conference, but they also had two days of quality pre-conference workshops, as well as keynote speakers including Temple Grandin and Shauna Tominey. Oh my!

I spoke about behavior and provided professionals with tools to change challenging and disruptive behavior into compliant and cooperative behavior. It was incredible to see the response from conference attendees!

There was also so much that I learned from workshops I attended!

No surprise that when I finished the conference I was overflowing in the most positive way possible.

The trick — how to make that feeling stick after the buzz from the event wears off!

A friend helped me put all the amazingly positive things on paper, which was a great way to solidify them in my mind. I called it my Top Six List, a Positive Accounting Exercise. Try it and you’ll see that you can keep that loving feeling going well beyond the wonderful event.

Before I ask you to do you’re own Top Six List, I’ll share mine for inspiration.

What I LOVED and LEARNED about the Young Child’s Expo, a Top Six List:

1. As big beings we need to have more fun! Find at least one silly thing to do each day with your small beings.

2. Short segments of time are useful if not engaged but if engaged they are not useful. (Tweet)When you’re engaged in something, it’s good to spend a longer amount of time on it so you can ask questions and really dive into the material. When you’re tired, it’s better to be in workshops (or anything, really!) that don’t take up a huge chunk of time, because you simply don’t have a long attention span. I suspect that small beings feel the same way, so consider how engagement impacts their attention span.

3. I will always want more, meaning more time when speaking, more ideas from other speakers or more workshops to attend. Always MORE. I believe this is how many small beings also feel. How can we teach them how to accept limits that are natural parts of life?

4. Time to rest is critical! After a full day of speaking, listening and learning I was exhausted. The next day, even after a full nights sleep, my energy was a bit low. Luckily, I had some time in my schedule to take a nap. Make sure you balance your and your small being’s schedule, not just per day but across the week.

5. I learned how to become a provider for continuing education units for teachers in New York State! Thank you to everyone who chimed in with ideas on this topic a few weeks ago. I will now be able to offer my professional development workshops as continuing education credit for teachers!

6. There are so many amazing people in this world, all doing such amazing work! It was such a joy to hear their stories and experiences with small beings. Thank you to everyone I met and the incredible work you do each day!

Ideas into Action!
What interesting event did you do in the past month? Write your Top Six List for that event! Share it in the comments below. Taking time to focus on the positive and share it will have enhance the experience. Remember, you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar!

Leave your feedback, experience and thoughts in the comment section below this post or email directly info@BehaviorAndBeyond.net with your behavior insights!

With a little help we can all grow. Keep checking in weekly for more parenting insights at Behavior + Beyond. For personal insights that I only share with my email list, please join my confidential email list below.