What Are the Benefits of Rewarding Behavior Traits?

Your life and your child̵7;s life are filled with decisions countless times each day. Some of these decisions are simple, and others are more difficult and take time and deliberation to complete. A child's decisions may range from whether to perform a task quickly and efficiently as a parent asked, or to ignore or disrespect his or her parent in some way. Rewarding the traits you would like to see will help them positively in their decision making. Rewarding behavior traits has a slew of benefits including: the elimination of negative behaviors, self esteem boosting, values-shaping, as well as valuable lessons in the art of giving and receiving compliments, which can give them an introduction to external motivation.

  1. What are Behavior Traits?

    • Behavior traits are qualities of behavior that are range from shyness to empathy. There are countless positive behavior traits you may consider rewarding, but a few will be more important to you and your family than others. For example, the six positive traits highlighted by Michigan University are: responsibility, trustworthiness, respect, fairness, caring and citizenship. (see Reference 4) Choose your own traits to encourage and reward within your family.

    Elimination of Negative Behavior

    • The first benefit to rewarding positive behavior traits is the way in which it can eliminate negative behavior. As renowned pediatrician Dr. Sears suggests, if you praise your child for using a calm, sweet voice, they will gradually abandon and eventually eliminate the use of a loud, grating, inappropriate tone of voice. (see Reference 1) Praising and rewarding positive behavior will automatically lessen the opposite behavior.

    Self Esteem

    • Encouragement tells your child that he or she is doing something right. This leads children to feel good about the behavior that received, as well as making them feel good about themselves in general. Positive self esteem and self image will translate to good behavior in many facets of their lives such as schooling, home life and social time.

    Value Shaping

    • What you praise in your child communicates what is important to you. Every individual and all parents have a set of values they aim to live by, whether they know it or not. Applying praise to the values you associate with good behavior will let the child know what is important in your family, and will allow him or her to develop some of the same values while growing.

    • By complimenting your child, you are demonstrating how to compliment others. Compliments are an important part of social interaction, and feeling comfortable giving and receiving these is an important step to adjusting socially. This is also a good time to teach the correct responses when given a compliment.

    Introduction to External Motivation

    • An adult is very familiar with external motivation. When an adult goes to work, they are motivated by receiving a paycheck, among other things such as promotion. Rewarding positive behavior with small physical rewards introduces the child to the world of external motivation. When the child performs the positive behavior, he or she should receive something that creates happiness. Some parents reward good study habits and good grades with gifts or money, while others may reward with special treatment or a trip. It is up to you and your family to develop a system that works for you.

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