Reinforce behavior that is close to standards. Each step is important. A child will then know exactly what to do and will sense accomplishment. Children are not born with a sense of responsibility. Neither do they acquire it automatically at a certain age.
Responsibility is attained slowly over many years.
To keep children carrying out their responsibilities, consider incentives, rewards, positive verbal compliments, love notes, happy grams, certificates, coupons and privileges. However, every child will experience disappointments and failure from time to time, but failure can be absorbed if there are plenty of experiences with success. This is why it is so necessary to give as much approval and encouragement as possible rather than criticism. This newsletter is published for North Dakota families with kindergarten children by the NDSU Extension Service and distributed through your county extension office. See your extension agent for more parenting information and other home economics programs.