The reports states that, ‘Parents can help their children's development by providing simple, consistent boundaries to help children learn the difference between right and wrong, as well as the socially constructed norms, which enable children to engage with others in their community. However, a young child does not automatically know the boundaries or what is expected of him and needs help remembering them.'

The report highlights the need for positive reinforcement to remind a child what is expected or desired, whilst at the same time distracting the child from behaviour that is not acceptable. A young child, even a toddler soon works out the link between the good behaviour and getting a nice reward.

However reward charts are not effective if used all the time. ‘They should be used sporadically and for different behaviours, each reward session could last a week, but not used every week and not for the same reason' explained Dr Gummer.

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