Rule of Thumb: Big choices for big kids, little choices for little kids.

Concept 2 ­­Choice Giving Strategies:
Provide age-appropriate choices that are equally acceptable to the child and to you. Remember that you must be willing to live with the choice the child makes. In this instance of choice giving, do not use choices to try to manipulate the child to do what you want by presenting one choice that you want the child to choose and a second choice that you know the child won't like.

Provide little choices to little kids; big choices to big kids.

Example: Toddlers can only handle choosing between two shirts or two food items. Examples for 3-year-olds: "Sarah, do you want to wear your red dress or your pink dress to school?" "Sarah, do you want an apple or an orange with your lunch?"

Next month: Concept 3 ­­ Choice-Giving to Avoid Potential Problem Behavior and Power Struggles

Excerpt from: Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT)


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