Successful Rules

We have three rules I like enough to share:
- After dinner, kids can eat only carrots and drink only water.
- If you want something your brother has, you have to give him something he wants more.
- Toys and books in the playroom must be put away before we turn on the TV.

The first rule keeps us from pushing very hard during dinnertime. If they don't want dinner, they won't starve nor get anything too much like a treat. We do usually insist on at least a taste of anything they're very likely to enjoy.

The second rule tends to break the focus on the desired object, which is often enough to cause a loss of interest in the contested thing. Even when it doesn't, both kids usually end up happy. I particularly like that it's basically continuous with the rules of adult life.

The third has a similar effect, where simply attracting attention to the toys often redirects the desire to watch TV into something more active. Again, even when the redirection fails, the result is a dramatic improvement over my usual housekeeping tendencies.