Reinforcement

🌈 Eating and Potty Training!?!? 🌈

When you think about potty training, think about what it entails.

You talk about how your child goes potty, how you go potty, how a sibling goes potty.

You talk about the toilet or potty seat they are using.

You bring the potty into the living room, just so they get used to seeing it and aren’t scared of it. We have them sit on it just to play and get used to it. We give them toys or let them watch shows to be able to sit, so just maybe they get distracted enough and go.

Finally, if they do go, we give PRAISE and REINFORCEMENT, and lots of it! Reinforcement can come in a variety of ways ... just think about all of the things you may have come up with. Of course, once they learn to use the potty, we fade that reinforcement away.

Now back to eating...

🌈 When we think about introducing non-preferred food to toddlers and kids, we really should follow that same idea.

We should talk about foods in a fun way, and talk about integrating all of our senses, by describing foods in how they look, feel, smell, sound, taste.

We should try different ways to present the foods- shape, color, temperature, texture, utensils.

If needed, we should also incorporate reinforcement. At times when discussing reinforcement with eating, many may see this as a form of “pressure,” and some can think this will have a negative effect on what a child will eat. When done correctly, reinforcement can be so helpful!

Reinforcement is encouragement, and it gives the child something to get excited about, because the food that you are presenting isn’t reinforcing to them … yet! Our goal is that eventually it will be, just like being able to use a potty, but until they are able to get to that point, we can help them by adding reinforcement when needed!

Reinforcement is a big topic, that can be utilized in many different ways, so look for more posts on this topic!