fbpx

Picture

Lately, I’ve found myself using the technique of pairing in my everyday mom-life. Remember pairing

In case you somehow forgot this technical definition- I mean really, do you think you’re busy being an end of school year mom or something? Here we go again. Pairing is when you pair something not so fun with something you know to be reinforcing to your child.

Well, lately I’ve been putting my two sweet (ahem, mostly sweet) puppy dogs to work. The pups are the highly preferred item I’m pairing with hard times of day. My girl loves the bathtub, so she naturally hates getting out of the tub. My solution- make sure there is a giant puppy there to entertain her while I dry her off. Unfun= getting dried off and dressed in pajamas. Fun= giant puppy. It’s decreased her protesting quite a bit and at the end of the day mama could use a little less protesting, dear.

Need more ideas for using behavior analysis in your mommy role? Check out my book. Parenting with Science: Behavior Analysis Saves Mom’s Sanity.


Picture

Some of my girl’s most highly preferred reinforcers. Or her gang of hooligan puppy dogs!