1 Developing Family Rules Nurturing Parenting Section 2.4 GOAL: To Increase parent’s skills in establishing family rules.

2 OBJECTIVES To establish family discipline. To initiate family fairness and cooperation. To develop family rules.

3 Family Meeting to establish family rules Family rules involve everyone in the family making the rules. Family rules involve do’s and don’ts. Family rules are designed to promote and reinforce cooperative behavior. Family rules help children learn appropriate behavior through parental modeling.

4 Reflect on your childhood. What rules did you have growing up? Were the rules “family rules” or “children rules”.

5 Brainstorm Family Rules Identify specific behaviors you want children to have. For every Don’t rules, there needs to be a Do rule, otherwise children won’t know what to do instead. The absence of a behavior is nothing until it is replaced with another behavior. It is easier to change behavior from one to another, rather than just drop a behavior.

6 Instruction to Family Rules Draw a line down the middle of the paper. On the top of one column write Do’s On the top of the other column write Don’ts Write four or five family rules.

7 General Rule Making Family rules encourage family members to take responsibility for their own behavior and to be contributing members of the family. Get everyone to participate. Encourage everyone to share family behaviors that they feel are problems.

8 General Rule Making (cont) Keep the rules simple and specific. Identify consequences and rewards for each rule. Hold regular family meetings to review the rules.

9 Rewards A Reward is a consequence for desirable behavior. There are two types of rewards. Tangible and intangible. Tangible rewards are things. Intangible rewards are privileges and feelings.

10 Five Types of Rewards as Consequences for Disable Behavior Praise – words that are given to recognize a child’s good behavior. Touch – gentle touch like massages, hugs, back rubs, gently touching an arm or shoulder. Privileges – bonuses awarded for desirable behavior such as staying up past bedtime, extra playing time, etc.

11 Five Types of Rewards as Consequences for Disable Behavior (cont.) Objects – toys, stickers, paints. Allowance – a logical reward for tasks complete. The functional purpose of allowance is to teach money management, and should be used by older children.