Search Results for: blog positive reinforcement non material rewards are just as effective

Material World: A Global Family Portrait

I stumbled across this book in a homeschooling forum. I thought it would be a great way to open my young son’s eyes up to how other people in other countries live. I felt that it would be a good way to help him to more appreciate the material things that he has, especially with Christmas coming up. The impact that this book had on my son’s life was evident. He took in every word that I read and examined every picture. As we turned each page, we stopped and discussed it. It was awesome. Personally speaking? I was impressed … Continue reading →

Punishing Your Cat

Let me say right off the bat that I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement. We’d all much rather be praised than punished, right? This holds true for our pets, too. In short, positive reinforcement means praising and/or rewarding your pet immediately after a good behavior. This teaches them to do the good things you want them to do. Your praise or reward encourages them to repeat the behavior. Sometimes, we lash out when we see a negative behavior. This could be anything from a cry of dismay, yelling the cat’s name, or a tap on the nose. We do … Continue reading →

Watch Out for Shame

Shame is all about controlling—controlling emotions and behavior. We can fall into feeling shameful ourselves, or as parents we may resort to using shame or guilt to try to control our children. Shame is a vicious cycle and we can get stuck and trapped using shame and feeling shameful in our family life. The opposite of shame is acceptance (either of self or of others) and love and nurturing behaviors. Shame can be so sneaky and compulsive that we use it, feel it and access shameful feelings without even realizing it. The next thing we know, we feel badly, our … Continue reading →

Creating a Positive Home Environment

Respect and admiration. In order for parents to have a good relationship with their children there must be mutual respect and admiration present, according to Dr. Jerry Day. We should always strive to remain positive with our kids. With the amount of negativity kids encounter daily, our homes should be a safe haven. One filled with positive interactions. We spend a lot of time admonishing kids for things they did wrong and often overlook the good things they are doing. We don’t catch them being good nearly as much as we should. And there are many opportunities to recognize the … Continue reading →

Bartering for Time

Sometimes as parents, we have to barter with our kids in order to get what we want. This is especially true if we have young kids who demand a lot of our time and attention. Being a writer, I don’t work traditional hours. I am often waiting on callbacks that come after 3:00 when Tyler is home or on the weekend. Deadlines loom and if bills are to be paid, well, I have to meet them. What I have found useful is to trade off with Tyler. If I really need to get something done I will tell him that … Continue reading →

How To Get Your Kids To Listen To You

“Are you listening to me?” How many times a day do you find yourself saying these five little words to your kids? Sometimes your kids aren’t listening because they are engaged in a more exciting activity but many times kids simply tune you out. One reason for this is because we spend a lot of time telling our kids to “do this” and “do that” or we lecture (i.e. nag) them. When we open our mouth they have grown to expect that what we are about to say won’t be pleasing, so they will tune you out. What you have … Continue reading →

Catch Your Kids Being Good

How many times have you heard some parenting expert remark that we should catch our kids being good? How many times have we caught our kids being good but failed to acknowledge their efforts? I admit many times I catch Tyler being good and I don’t say anything. But no more. I’ve discovered that sometimes the simplest gestures mean a lot to young kids. I’ve been having almost nightly struggles with Tyler at bedtime. He plays around for nearly an hour most nights before he finally zonks out. I read recently that an early bedtime is for the benefit of … Continue reading →

Positive Reinforcement: Non-material Rewards Are Just As Effective

As parents we often spend many hours attempting to change our kids behavior by a little method known as correcting. This works for many kids but parents should also realize that a better method is the use of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is simply rewarding your child with something desirable after a behavior occurs. In most cases the reward then assures that the behavior will occur again. The reward does not have to be something material or costly, it can be a hug, a special snack, extra time with mom or dad, etc. For many kids, these types of reward … Continue reading →