Accidental Rewards........Positive Parenting Program

What are "accidental rewards"?

As parents, we all do this to some extent.  Accidental rewards are where we inadvertently reward a child when they display an unwanted behaviour.  A typical example would be, during a shopping trip, the child wanted something.  You said no.  He escalated and threw a tantrum.  You escalated, but eventually, you caved in to the child's demand by giving him what he wanted.  Sounds familiar?

In essence, we are rewarding the child for his bad behaviour.  The trick is to give attention to the good behaviours and less attention to bad ones.  I want to acknowledge that although simple, it is not easy!

At this point, I just want to raise our awareness to this common pitfall of parenting.  As this blog evolves, we will talk about other strategies to manage mishaviours in children.

For parents who can relate to the above, do not feel bad as we ALL do it.  The trick is through awareness, and some simple strategies, we can minimize it.

Reference:
TripleP International-Positive Parenting Program