Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Disciplining Children...
Many of the questions I get asked concern children and discipline. When you discipline, you
are helping your child understand what the worldexpects of him. While there is a huge amount of information concerning appropriate discipline, here are a some helpful tips to remember...
1. Instead of spending the majority of your time concerned with discipline, spend the majority of your time encouraging your child to behave. This is much less spressful to you and the child and creates a positive environment. Encourage the child by:
2. When discipling a child, you should always consider the child's development level.
For infants: Discipline is never appropriate. Infants do not have control of their actions and therefore cannot be held accountable for them.
Remember that even when disciplining, the child needs to understand that it is reaction and consequence, not to the child, simply the child's misbehavior.
And no, I an not a believer in spanking nor any form of physical punishment. I know that many parents disagree on this belief, but in spite of the fact that it is against the law for child care providers to engage in any type of corporal punishment, it has been proven to have little positive effect in discipling the child.
Many of the questions I get asked concern children and discipline. When you discipline, you
are helping your child understand what the worldexpects of him. While there is a huge amount of information concerning appropriate discipline, here are a some helpful tips to remember...
1. Instead of spending the majority of your time concerned with discipline, spend the majority of your time encouraging your child to behave. This is much less spressful to you and the child and creates a positive environment. Encourage the child by:
- Praising good behavior. Let your child know when he acts appropriately and help him feel good about it.
- Being a role model. Children learn from example,so act the way you want your child to act.
- Setting clear expectations. Make sure the child understands the rules and enforce them consistently.
- Ignoring small incidents and accidents, such as spilled milk. Just give a reminder to be careful next time and let the child help clean up.
- Giving second chances. Give a child the opportunity to correct misbehavior by offering a warning or a second chance.
- Being consistent. Lessons must be repeated over a period of days or weeks before they are learned. Only set rules you are willing to enforce.
2. When discipling a child, you should always consider the child's development level.
For infants: Discipline is never appropriate. Infants do not have control of their actions and therefore cannot be held accountable for them.
- Shower an infant with love and affection — you can’t spoil an infant.
- Read and respond to an infant’s needs.
- When he cries, try to determine why. Is he hungry, wet, tired
- Get ready to set limits. Does your baby look to see if you are watching her? She is now aware of the "forbidden."
- Introduce "no" only for safety issues — if a child hears "no" too commonly, it will not have any meaning to him.
- Stay one step ahead. Distract or redirect a child from unsafe objects or activities.
- Use non-verbal communication. Give a stern or firm look for small misdeeds.
For toddlers (two years and older): A toddler is starting to understand expectations and consequences.
- Create consequences that relate to the behavior. For example, remove a child from the store if he misbehaves.
- Don’t delay the consequences. If you threaten or leave the consequences until later, a child is less likely to understand what she did wrong.
Remember that even when disciplining, the child needs to understand that it is reaction and consequence, not to the child, simply the child's misbehavior.
And no, I an not a believer in spanking nor any form of physical punishment. I know that many parents disagree on this belief, but in spite of the fact that it is against the law for child care providers to engage in any type of corporal punishment, it has been proven to have little positive effect in discipling the child.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 8:57 PM 
