Every day we make thousands of decisions, most of them unconsciously. What we decide often depends on the way the choice is framed and the context in which a choice is made. Economists have looked at how people make decisions, and behavioral economists, specifically, Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler, has incorporated insights from psychology into his work.

Thaler has developed a whole science revolving around how people make choices.

In its highest application, this science is used to help people to make the choices that are best for them. This is called “choice architecture” and Thaler, with his colleague Cass Sunstein, writes about this in their books Nudge and Nudge, the Final Edition.

Here we are going to apply these ideas to parenting—because we can all use some help getting our kids to do what they need to do. And for transparency’s sake, I will say that all the ideas in this post are stolen from Thaler and Sunstein.

Think about what words you choose when you speak with your child. This can drastically alter what choice your child makes.

For example, when you want your child to go to bed, right now you probably say something like, “Are you ready for bed?”

And right now your child probably says something like . . . ”No.”

Of course. What do you expect them to say?

Thaler would say that you have........

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