8 Weeks To A Well-behaved Child: Week 4 Parents Families.com

It’s time for week 4 of 8 Weeks To A well-Behaved Child. We’re at the half-way mark and this week we will learn about using reminder praise and increasing compliance with expectations, but first I want to review last week.

In week three, using rewards and privileges to strengthen behavior, the assignment was to select a behavior and a reward and to keep a tally of how many times each day we used the reward or privilege to strengthen the behavior. For me this was a tough week. With Thanksgiving and Tyler’s birthday plus the fact that Tyler had school just two days this week, I was in a frenzy. I had a deadline to meet, the normal day-to-day writing-related activities along with all the holiday and birthday planning, well, I didn’t do my homework every day. But you have to remember, in order for this method to work, the author says you have to follow his instructions to the letter . Even with the problems I had this week, I can see some small changes in Tyler’s behavior. So I am still willing to see it out for another four weeks. With that in mind, let’s look at this week’s goals and assignment.

Reminder praise is a way of giving praise while also reminding our kids what they are not doing and should not be doing. “Good job, you handled it really well when I said we could not go to the movies,” is an example of how you might use reminder praise. Here are some things to keep in mind when using reminder praise:

(1) The praise must come immediately after the desired behavior.

(2) It must be used only when kids are not misbehaving.

(3) Use connector words like “and not”, “instead of”, “rather than”, and “without.” These connector words must be used so that your child knows that you are aware of their improvement. This makes the chances for success higher.

(4) Use the 5-step method of increasing compliance as a way to let your kids know your expectations and the consequences of not complying. The steps are:

1. Identify the problem.

2. State your expectations.

3. Ask your child to repeat your expectations.

4. Let your child know what the consequences of compliance and non-compliance are.

5. Most importantly, follow through .

And now the assignment for week four. For this week, use the 5-step method as outlined above and use it at least five times this week. Also, write down any instances where you also used reminder praise, rewards and privileges and praise and attention this week.

Next week: Discouraging Misbehavior by Withdrawing Attention.