Setting Rules Is Important for Your Child

Setting rules can make the child feel safe, and can help them understand how we want them to act.

Here are some suggestions for setting rules from Christa Pinsonnault, Alta Head Start’s Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant:

1. Choose only three rules at a time. There may be more than three rules we want them to follow, but we need to keep it simple, so pick the most important ones.
2. Tell your child what you want him or her to do. Tell him or her what you want to see. If you want to stop a child from hitting, the rule would be that they use “nice hands.”
3. Give the same reward or consequence every time. The child needs to know what will happen if the rule is or is not followed.

You can contact Christa by calling (330) 750-7110 or emailing [email protected]