Promises Made — Promises Kept

1- State agreement by saying what you need from the child. (We tend to describe what we don’t have rather than what we need.)

2- Get child to verbalize agreement by repeating what you need. Usually you have to do this several times. (verbalization by the child leads to conceptulization.)

3-Take a picture of child performing acceptable behavior. (kids need reminders more than they need to be informed)

4- Turn the child’s picture into a 4-6 piece puzzle. Evertime child is noted keeping agreement give them a piece of the puzzle to glue together. ( This validates for the child they are capable and responsible in carrying out the agreement. )

5- What happens if you don’t keep your agreement? Explore different alternatives for not following through. By doing this you can create contingencies for action if the agreement breaks down. (You can expect kids to not always keep their agreements. It’s just as important to remake the agreement as it is to make the initial agreement.