Promoting good behavior in your children

Special to Village News

Parents are naturally proud when their children are well behaved. When our kids play well with others, responsibly complete family chores, and interact politely with adults, we feel we've done a pretty reasonable job of child-rearing. But getting our kids to be well behaved is not always a simple task.

Children learn behaviors through the consequences that various behaviors bring. If a child earns a reward for doing something well, he's learned it's a positive consequence. Poor behavior that brings a punishment is a negative consequence. Over time, as either consequence...