Don't Pay Kids to Be Good!

"Can you believe it?" seven-year-old Kayla's mom moaned to her friend. "I have to take her with me to my cleaning job. She drives me nuts getting into everything she's not supposed to touch. I have to pay her to be good or she drives me crazy. It worked for a while, but now that's not even working. Yesterday she told me that I wasn't paying her enough!"Mom's mistake of paying or bribing her child to be good ranks close to the top of mistakes parents make. If she keeps this up she will soon suffer from "extortion inflation."

By the time Kayla becomes a teen, no amount of money will buy good behavior. How many times have you heard parents in the store saying, "Now if you're good, I'll let you buy a treat?" Every time I hear this I have fantasies of shaking the parent, or at least yelling, "BIG MISTAKE!"

Recently I watched two young boys following their dad into the store as they were saying, "Daddy, what do we get if we're good in the store today?"His answer was, "A happy family. That's what you get!" Now there's a dad I like!

By the way, Kayla's mom needs to listen to our CD, Love and Logic Magic When Kids Drain Your Energy. The technique specified there would work on Kayla.

Thanks for reading.
Jim Fay

Upcoming Love and Logic Seminars: Salt Lake City, UT; Rochester Hills, MI; and Portland, OR.

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