Rewarding Good Behavior

The weather was incredibly beautiful today, so it was very easy to get ourselves out of the house to run a couple of quick errands. First stop was Friends of Nature to pick up some wild bird seed and a couple of bags of horse feed.

Jack really loves the Friends of Nature store because there are images of animals featured on just about every piece of merchandise. Each aisle is thoroughly entertaining for a 2 1/2-year old. I like to let Jack walk on his own, (as opposed to confining him to a shopping cart), because he loves to explore the store. The store isn't very large, so there is little risk of Jack disappearing from my sight. It is important to keep one eye on him though because at one point today, Jack tried to eat an ear of field corn that was part of a display in the squirrel section.

After we purchased our stash of animal goodies from Friends of Nature, we headed up to Target. As soon as we set foot in Target, Jack led me directly to his favorite destination -- the toy department. As I mentioned in a previous post, Jack loves to add to his Thomas the Tank Engine collection. Today's purchase was a little yellow engine named, "Molly".

While Molly is not one of the major characters in the "Thomas" storyline, this engine has a very distinctive paint scheme, and is sure to be Jack's favorite locomotive for a very long time. Or at least until our next visit to Target.

With Molly now in his possession, I was guaranteed that Jack would behave like a perfect little toddler for the remainder of this shopping experience. I don't want to give the impression that Jack is spoiled, or motivated by material things. My point is simply that Jack is smart enough to realize that good behavior can earn rewards. (In this case, the reward came first, but that's a mere technicality). This is a lesson that I'm more than happy to instill on my son; when you choose to behave and do the right thing, (now and throughout life), rewards may follow. On the other hand, if you choose to misbehave, there are consequences that are not nearly as rewarding as receiving a fun new toy.

Following my own fatherly advice, I decided that my good behavior of doing laundry today deserved one of my favorite rewards -- an iced vanilla latte from Starbucks. Hey, even big kids need rewards.