Baby and Kid News
Child Discipline
in the way we think about child discipline, but this sophistication makes the job harder for parents. Back in the day, if your child misbehaved, you could correct him with a firm swat to the backside. Nowadays, we are supposed to understand our children and use the principles of modern psychology. Needless to say, this is a far tougher task.
That isn't to say that punishment is not a valid child discipline technique. As a matter of fact, it is very hard to raise a child without some form of punishment at some point. The time out is a tried and true method – especially with young children. It lets you show them that they have been bad, give them a chance to chill out, and set up a clear consequence for naughty behavior. Of course, the time out works best if you have some special spot for the child to go to. You can make them sit on a particular stair, stand in the corner, or whatever. Then, when a few minutes have passed (eternity for a small child) go up to him and discuss why you put him there and what he has learned. Do this every time as a way to set firm boundaries.
But punishment is actually not the best form of child discipline. Experts say that praise for good behavior and setting goals with your kids works a lot better. Make the child feel good about himself when he behaves well, and set easily quantifiable behavior goals. A behavior chart is a great way to go about doing this. My youngest child used to lose his temper all the time until we set up a behavior chart for him. We talked about the behaviors that were a problem, and discussed ways we could work together to end them. Then, I would give him rewards when he started to get things right.
Of course, the way you give rewards has a big effect on your child discipline. Intermittent rewards are much better than fixed ones. In other words, don't bribe your child with an ice cream cone as a reward for doing a certain thing. Instead, surprise him with a reward every now and then when he is behaving well. That way, he will learn to act properly all the time, instead of just when he knows he is getting something out of it.
Learning how to discipline your child is one of the toughest lessons for many parents. Even if your parents were pretty big on discipline and behaving properly, it can be very hard to pass the same values on to your children. A big part of it has to do with recent changes in our society. We have become a lot more sophisticated
