Contact Us: (631) 351-1111 | (516) 777-8777  | (718) 626-6161 | (914) 668-1313

“But my child doesn’t understand ‘Yes-When Deals’!”

compassOf course, your child may not fully understand the “Yes-When deal” that you offer.  No problem!  There are plenty of ways to make “Yes-When” deals developmentally appropriate for even very young children or children who do not yet understand your words.  Just use “Show-and-Tell Scaffolding:

For example, “Yes you can have the cookie when you sit on the chair”:

Use Hand-Over-Hand prompting: leave the cookie on the table and then carry your child over to the chair.

Use Demonstration: sit on the chair and eat a cookie to demonstrate compliance with the rule

Use Gestures: point to the cookie, bring the cookie to chair, then point to the chair

Use Verbal Instructions: for example, say, “Yes you can have the cookie, when you sit on the chair.”

Congratulations you have just taught your child that a cookie is not a RIGHT, but rather a PRIVILEGE that must be earned.