Ivana - yep definitely giving our kids more praise (attention) for doing those good things than we do from negative behaviour makes them more inclined to want to do the good things Often we make such a big deal over them for the negative behaviour that they do it more often, for attention. Kids thrive on one on one attention - they remember it and the special moments we have together - be it sitting on a couch before dinner and having a drink, or for me, I remember playing a game of hide-and-seek after work most nights with my dad. On Thursday nights, he'd always bring home my brother and I a treat. Made us feel very special

We also have to remember that they just may not be hungry some times - so we don't get frustrated that the attempts at praise or other efforts haven't worked. I used to get grumpy with Marisa for not eating breakfast and then wanting lots of snacks later. So I would simply move her breakfast time to later - I know I don't feel like breakfast the minute I wake up, so by having it at 9am, she actually feels ready to eat, eats lots of it and there's less requests for snacks.