Nikki Bush, a self-confessed parenting adventurer.  Married with two strapping sons aged 14 and 10.  Nikki’s clients call her a creative parenting expert.  She is an inspirational speaker and author of bestselling parenting book, Future-proof Your Child (Penguin, 2008).

Have you ever realised that you are always trying to market to, or sell your child/ren something – an idea, a value, a point of view, an action to be taken etc:

With this generation, authority does work (sometimes), particularly in the early years when “because I am your parent and I said so” still has some magical power to it, or if you have actively positioned yourself as a hero in your child’s life story.  But, as children get older there is a tendency for them to either think or, even worse, verbalise “Says Who?” or “Who cares anyway?”. Living in a reward-based culture as we do, where it’s so commonplace for us to be rewarded for swiping our credit cards, being loyal to the same airline, store or restaurant, visiting the gym etc, our children could be forgiven for thinking:  “If they want me to do this, what’s in it for me, what do I get?”

This is a very real challenge for 21st century parents.  Of course the desired end result after years of parenting is for our children to be self-motivated rather than relying on some form of external bribe etc.  But, from time-to-time, it may be necessary to utilise various “marketing tactics” to get the message across to your child in a fun and playful way, or to get their buy-in until it becomes an adopted habit, value, thought or behaviour pattern.

Star charts, treats, promises and bribes are all in a parent’s marketing arsenal – to be used wisely, of course.  And do watch what the marketers are doing – you could pick up an idea or two to add to your toolkit.  Try these “promotions” for size, my kids loved them: