Play Your Part

There is no specific age at which to start using positive reinforcement; children learn to relate reinforcers to their behavior after several similar experiences and patterns. Good deeds that were reinforced at an early age become part of the child’s personality.

As children grow, their needs will differ in the same way that our expectations of them will expand. So, the reinforcers may change, but the general principle remains. The success of positive reinforcement greatly depends not on the child, but on the adult using it as a disciplinary approach.

When used successfully, positive reinforcement can develop a child’s intrinsic motivation. It can provide children some understanding of expectations and behavior.

Positive Reinforcement vs Bribery

Some parents mistakenly associate positive reinforcement with bribing or giving material rewards. In bribery, you promise something bigger and more valuable than the behavior you are expecting. You also tend to negotiate or beg, even increasing the value of the prize, just to make sure that the behavior you wish is manifested. Giving a child verbal encouragement or small tokens after they exhibit a certain desirable behavior does not qualify for bribery.

Other parents steer clear from positive reinforcers for fear that they might spoil their child. However, it is far from spoiling if the reward given is commensurate to the positive behavior exhibited by the child. Material rewards need not be expensive things; small tokens like stickers or erasers are hardly decadent. Non-material reinforcers are highly recommended: a hug, a wink, and a compliment for a job well done.

Effective Praise: Instill Good Behavior Through Positive Reinforcement, Not Through Bribery or Punishment

How do you discipline your child? Most of the parents would admit to having spanked their children at least once. In behavioral studies, 3 approaches to eliciting a desired behavior can also be found in parents’ discipline styles: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment.

Positive reinforcement entails providing an event (like a reward or praise) that increases the probability of the desired behavior being repeated. With negative reinforcement, a desired behavior is drawn out through the elimination of an adverse event (e.g. child learns to wake up earlier for school every day because getting caught in traffic makes him nauseous). Punishment, often confused with negative reinforcement, involves increasing an adverse event to decrease or stop negative behavior.

Child experts agree that, of the 3, positive reinforcement is the best way to draw out positive behavior in children and even keep negative behavior in check.

Encouragement is the Seed of Success

What kind of parent are you – an encourager or an intimidator? The encourager stresses working towards a certain goal. The intimidator stresses winning. For this kind of parent, “It’s the results that count… not the effort, not the intentions.”

Like It or Not, Kids Grow with Violence

Like most of the parents, you are probably against guns. Real guns. At the mere sight of them, your knees turn to jelly. A gunless society is ideal but only law-abiding citizens can make it one. If guns are in the hands of goons, who will protect the gunless citizens? Nowadays, it’s hard to tell who are the law enforcers and the law-breakers.

You must be able to enforce “toys for peace” in your home. You should be conscious about this, as your boys and girls graduate from plastic toys that go “bang bang” to water guns. What are popular now are air soft guns using plastic pellets. They are quite expensive.

Don't be Surprised if Today's Kids See Life as One Big Commercial Break

Television today is still a “baby sitter” both for adults and preschoolers. When people are bored or simply want to rest, they watch TV. Some are not really interested to watch at all. They need the TV to put them to sleep. As soon as you turn it off, they wake up.

With the remote control, watching TV can be a dizzying experience. I get confused with what characters go with what plot. What with that mysterious hand switching channels during commercial breaks, you find yourself following several shows at the same time. Sometimes you have to shout, “stop!” and confiscate the remote control. “Please decide which program you want and stick to it”.

Infertility: Know how using donor eggs, sperm or embryo works and what conditions need to exist.

Donor Eggs, Donor Sperm, or Donor Embryo
There are presently no centers or clinics that allow this option in the Philippines.

How it works
Basically donor-assisted IVF or AI.

Cervical Cancer Vaccination

Vaccination Schedule: 0, 1, 6 , months

Contraindication:

• History of allergy to previous vaccination or any component of the vaccine
• Pregnant and breastfeeding

Precaution:

• Moderate-Severe illness

Can I be vaccinated if I am pregnant or breastfeeding?

• Use in pregnancy is not recommended
• It is not known whether vaccine antigens or antibodies found in the vaccine are excreted in human milk

Every Woman Deserves a Chance Against Cervical Cancer

5 Things you need to know about cervical cancer vaccination:

1. You do not need to be screened before vaccination.
   
   • While it is ideal to get screened it is not necessary since regardless of your current status, you can be vaccinated.
2. Fighting HPV infection does not protect you from re-infection
   
   • Unlike other infections that you only get once like chickenpox, HPV infection can be recurrent and acquired at any age.
   • If you’ve already fought off an HPV infection, it is possible to be infected again.
3. You can still get vaccinated even if you already have HPV
   
   • Even if you have HPV (for example HPV 18), vaccination can still protect you from cancer causing HPV 16 and provide and a degree of protection against 12 other cancer causing types of HPV. However, the vaccine is not curative so it won’t affect a present cervical condition (existing HPV infections, lesions, or cervical cancer).
4. Women 26 years old and up can still benefit from vaccination
   
   • Because HPV infection is common and can occur at any age, sexually active women may remain at risk throughout their lives. Also the older women, gets the higher risk of persistent HPV infection (one that does not go away).
5. Vaccination and regular Pap smears are you best chance of preventing cervical cancer.
   
   • Vaccination protects you from HPV 16, 18, 35 and 41, the cause of 80% of cervical cancer cases worldwide, while regular Pap smears will allow early detection of precancerous changes in the cervix.