Okay, I must admit that, while I did find this acronym in Ziglar’s book, it was not used as a verb. I think that’s a trend that grew more after his book’s publishing. SNIOP stands for Susceptible to the Negative Influence of Other People. So, to be SNIOPed is to allow yourself to be in a position to be susceptible to the negative influence.
We all know those who can really drain us with their negativity. I personally feel that our kids have a multitude of negative influencers thanks to the Internet. It can be very hard to escape negativity. So, it follows that we teachers and parents have the responsibility of teaching our kids how not to be susceptible to their negative influences. How do we do this? We need to be a voice to which our children will listen. Becoming that voice begins early. When my son reached sixth grade, I began taking him to Sonic for a treat. It was just the two of us. As we sat in the car and waited for our dessert, we would talk about anything and everything. Pretty soon, when my son had a problem about which he needed to talk, he would ask if I wanted to go to Sonic. It became our unwritten arrangement for having a serious discussion. Now, I’ll not lead you to believe that he and I agree on everything, but I will tell you that we can talk about anything.
My daughter and I have always shared. What I was not equipped naturally to do was to not solve problems for her. She was a junior before she finally got me to understand that sometimes she just needs to vent and for me to listen. That was a very freeing day for both of us!
If you establish a dialogue with your children, you can be a positive voice in their ears. That’s all we can really do to combat the enormous amount of negativity in the world. Oh, there is one other thing we can do: we have to not be SNIOPed either!
Michelle