How to use sending your kids up to bed early as a logical consequence, not a punishment

Positive reinforcement & “earning” rewards will always be more effective than negative reinforcement & “taking away” things your child thought they were already entitled to. Earning is much more encouraging & motivating and will lead to greater cooperation VS continuously threatening to take things away and being very discouraging. Every night my kids need to first clean their toys to earn extra special time with mommy & daddy. I don’t believe in using bedtime as punishment, but we do frame it as the logical consequence that will occur if my kids don’t want to help clean up at the end of the day. All 3 of them have the choice to not help, but that means the day is over for them & it’s time to go to sleep. It’s not a big deal or something I frame negatively. I give my kids this choice because my goal as a parent is to be very consistent in my discipline so that my kids know I mean what I say, so I’m not trying to set up a a huge battle every night where they HAVE to clean and then I end up backing down when I realize they’re too cranky & tired to be able to do it. It truly is a choice to clean or not & I honestly don’t care which one they choose because if they go to bed early, then I have more time to clean the toys myself. My oldest always chooses to clean so she earns that extra special time, and my middle & youngest choose to clean and earn about half the time. This system has worked so well with my oldest and she has developed a very positive association with cleaning and never fights us on it. I’m sure my younger 2 will get to that same place within a few years if we keep doing this! Make sure to follow me for all things gentle parenting & no-tears sleep training and head to the 🔗 in my bio or hhsleep.com for more classes & resources #parenting #momtok #discipline #consequences #momshelpingmoms How to get a toddler to clean How to reward kids Getting kids to like cleaning Parenting advice