Bribery

[2xshy]

So  my DD is 2.5 y/o and was recently put on ABX for an ear infection.

Other times she was on ABX  were a while back and it was easier to get her to take them but this time she would refuse and run away.

so i told her i would give her a treat after she took it. i giver her a single carob chip or chocolate chip if im out of the carob ones. it works perfectly, she takes the medicine, has a drink of water and gets a tasty treat that makes her forget the yucky medicine taste.

but i'm bribing her.

what do you all think?

ok?

not ok?

what works for you?

[taramoon13]

hate to say it, but YES to bribes. they worked for us. ds was just in this exact situation having to take antibiotics twice a day for 2 weeks and making a drama 4 out of 5 times! so frustrating. he was pretty easy to please though since he usually only drinks water, milk or unsweetened herb tea i'd let him have honey-sweetened tea or kids emergen-c with it. we're fairly strict with our treats around here, so ds is pretty good about not begging for stuff all of the time when it's not treat time. i think at this age (when they can be sooooooooo stubborn) and when you're dealing with something like medicine that they HAVE to take you do what works. i think whats most important is sticking to only giving treats when YOU decide it's treat time.

[Owen'nZoe]

I have to agree. There is a time and a place for bribery, and getting a toddler or preschooler to take medicine is one of them in my book. When my son had surgery this summer, he was taking multiple doses of medicine a day for a couple weeks straight. He got a small treat every time. It got us through, and he did not expect to be 'paid' for doing other things after we were done with the medicine.

[2xshy]

that is my feeling too.

 i'm not really opposed to giving treats for things like this,  since taking abx are not at all common for us, and it's important the DD take them in order to heal.

i'd love to 'bribe' her with a non food item, but i  kinda think since she is having to eat something.. well ingest something that she doesn't like that it's fair in this case to give her a  small treat.

Edited by 2xshy - 11/24/10 at 7:41pm

[Marsupialmom]

In this case, bribery is OK. 

[JollyGG]

Some of those medicine's are truely nasty tasting. My daughter was on one a couple of months ago that even made her shudder from the taste and she is a medicine taking champ. For that one I shoved the chocolate chip in her mouth before she even swallowed the medicine to get her to not spit it back out. Some times a drink of water than something sweet gets rid of the nasty taste left in the mouth.

[Peony]

Bribes in moderation and when really needed, are ok in my book. DD2 takes meds daily and then has her inhalers/nebs that we always do as well, you bet I am not above bribes if it is the only way it is going to happen that day. 

[nextcommercial]

I'm all for bribery!  I'm way more generous too!   I bought my daughter a bag of hershey bars one year when the medicine was particularly nasty.  

Of course, I ate more of them than she did... but, it worked.

[lilyka]

Taking gross tasting medicine sucks.  I have no problem letting my kids wash it down with whatever it takes to get it down.  They usually choose to wash it down with coke.   Its more of something to cover the flavor than bribe them.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

I don't consider that bribery. Bribery, to me, is when you attempt to get another person to do something that benefits you but has no benefit to them.

I would call what you did motivation, and if you had her best interests in mind, then you didn't do anything wrong!

[hopefulfaith]

Another "I agree!"  :)

My dd had to take a round of abx this past week, and the first few days, I said "After you finish your yogurt (abx mixed in), you can come pick a piece of chocolate."  I tried to set it up in such a way that I wasn't begging her to take the medicine and thankfully handing her the candy with adulation when she was finished.....there was no way around _not_ taking the meds, so I tried to frame it as an expectation:  when you do this (which you are), you can do this.

It worked.

I don't bribe for behavior in the grocery store and whatnot, but my dd has only had two rounds of abx in 4 years:  she has no practice at taking medicine, and she was horrible at it.  It was not fun.  However, I totally rationalized it:  when I have to go to the gyn for my yearly exam, I buy a latte on the way home as a treat.  Same principle, right??

[MusicianDad]

Makes perfect sense to me. Heck, I bribe myself to take icky tasting medicine.

[LynnS6]

For medicine and potty training, I think bribery is a perfectly acceptable solution.

The reason not to do bribery is because you want your child to be internally motivated to do things. By the time she's old enough to really understand the need for the medicine, she'll be able to take pills and won't have to deal with the taste. For pottying, you're teaching a discrete skill. Once a child has learned to use the potty, the comfort of being dry usually motivates them. As an adult, I don't need to be 'internally motivated' to use the potty.

I won't bribe for homework, sports practice, music practice, grades or chores. (And probably a whole host of other things.) But for medicine, you do what you gotta do.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

For medicine and potty training, I think bribery is a perfectly acceptable solution.

The reason not to do bribery is because you want your child to be internally motivated to do things. By the time she's old enough to really understand the need for the medicine, she'll be able to take pills and won't have to deal with the taste. For pottying, you're teaching a discrete skill. Once a child has learned to use the potty, the comfort of being dry usually motivates them. As an adult, I don't need to be 'internally motivated' to use the potty.

I won't bribe for homework, sports practice, music practice, grades or chores. (And probably a whole host of other things.) But for medicine, you do what you gotta do.

I've never been internally motivated to take pills. But thats probably why I always by ice cream when I have a prescription to fill.
 

[Llyra]

For nasty tasting medicine? That's not bribery-- that's just making something yucky and unavoidable into something slightly more pleasant.