Being Responsible about rewarding your child

Treating your child to something special can cause some parents to feel guilty. Kinder spokesperson and child development expert Dr. Anthony Volk recommends these five tips to using treats most effectively.

1. Use a range of treats. The more often a treat is used, the less of a treat it becomes, so try adding a later bedtime for a night, a special outing, or long-awaited toy or candy to your treating roster.

2. Match the level of treat to the behaviour. Some actions deserve bigger treats than others – try to ensure the action justifies the reward.

3. Match the treat to the child. Giving a comic book to a child who prefers novels lessens the joy a treat is designed to send. The range of treats is almost infinite – be personal and specific.

4. Match the treat to the moment. A treat for a tired child can be a punishment for an alert child. This helps keep treats irregular and unpredictable.

5. Start strong, and then back off. When using a treat to reinforce a new behaviour, you’ll need to use a larger treat at the outset, and then scale back to smaller, less frequent treats once the behaviour becomes more ingrained.

For more information on responsible treating visit  haveyouplayedtoday.ca.