Sweets and sleeping: Teaching unintended lessons

When we don’t take a child’s perspective, we may teach the opposite of what we intend. For example, what are children learning when sweets are rewards for eating more nutritious foods or for good behaviour?  

Similarly, many adults would list resting and sleeping as one of their favourite activities, yet many children would count it among their least favourite. Why? It’s probably partly because they have more energy than we do. But another possible explanation is that if children are repeatedly sent to bed when they irritate or annoy adults, they learn that sleeping and resting are undesirable and therefore to be resisted.