Parents would love to be able to say that redirection and positive reinforcement are always effective in correcting a child’s misbehavior. Unfortunately, there are times when a child will only learn correct and healthy behaviors if there is a negative result for her actions. There are many reasons to pick logical consequences over random and harsh penalties. If parents want their child to learn from her mistake, her consequence must have a link to the misbehavior.
Here are 10 examples of inappropriate behaviors a child might have and possible “logical” consequences for that behavior.
- Your child makes a mess, whether intentionally or on purpose. A logical consequence could be for her to miss out on playtime so that she can clean up the mess she made. Depending on the age of your child, she may need a little help, however don’t underestimate your child’s abilities. If she made the mess she is likely able to clean at least some of it up. By making this part of life, your child will begin to understand that when she creates a mess, she needs to takes responsibility and clean it up
- Your child throws a toy in the house after being clearly told it was against the rules. The logical consequence is that she loses the privilege of playing with that toy for a reasonable amount of time. This could be five minutes for a young child and could be a few days for an older child.
