STLMoms: To Reward or Not To Reward Your Children

(STLMoms) – Sometimes it’s hard for parents to decide when they should and shouldn’t reward their children for certain behaviors.

Psychologist Kasey Davis with St. Louis Children’s Hospital talks about the pros and cons of rewards.

Once you decide that you are going to use rewards, how do you establish what the reward should be?

1.   The reward must fit the behavior.
2.   It must be sustainable.
3.   A reward must be important to your child.
4.   It must be something that you are willing to withhold.
5.   Consider rewards that are consumable.
6.   Children should have infrequent access to the reward otherwise.

Lastly, rewards should be things that kids can`t normally get their hands on otherwise.

Rewards can be things, choices, privileges, activities, escapes..