Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Say "time out" to a child and he'll probably know you're not pleased with his behavior. I know that I have used "time outs" for discipline. For years, "time out" has been the standard of discipline in child care, but times are changing as we move out with punishment and in with positive guidance.
It’s a new form of discipline that turns bad behavior into a learning opportunity. The concept is guiding others on positive guidance.
Chad Messer is a lead teacher at the Marshall University Child Development Academy. That means it's his job to encourage good behavior and discourage the bad.
“It’s okay if they lose their cool. We just have to teach them,” Chad said.
They’re teaching, not disciplining. At the academy, there's no such thing as time out.
“It’s not enough to make them go over here if having outlandish behavior,” Chad said.
Here, the method of discipline is called positive guidance. That means helping children turn their negative behavior into a positive through a learning process in problem-solving.
“We need to get away from this punitive action. How will they learn from that? How will the next situation be better than that?” MU Child Development Academy Director Susan Miller said,” I think research is showing time out is not working, but what we do instead is the problem,” Susan said.The academy already serves as a learning lab for Marshall students from the School of Education and Human Services. Now, they're getting a lesson in discipline alternatives as well.
“I know if a student knows early on, problem solve,” MU student Gloria McClure said.
“When they learn positive guidance at this level, can take into their own classroom, we want them to get experience in problem-solving and they learn there's something to do other than time out,” Dr. Janet Dozier of the MU School of Education and Human Services said.
Dr. Janet Dozier is Marshall University's coordinator of early childhood education and an assistant professor. She’s studied the effects of many forms of discipline on younger children. She’s a big believer in the benefits of positive guidance.
“When we do punitive, all that does is stop a wrong behavior. It doesn't begin a right behavior,” Dr. Dozier said,” We can identify the problem, go over some solutions, pick the best solution, work through them with the child and then give affirmation.”
“Our teachers prefer time out. They're away from their toys and their friends and they understand they've done something wrong,” Kenova Church of God Early Child Development Center Stephanie Arrowood of said.
Stephanie says the 2007 State Daycare Center Licensing rules now require all centers in West Virginia to adopt positive guidance and redirecting behavior for children under three, which is a change from even just a few months ago. She says as she sees it, the best discipline is a combination of both.
“You explain to them why they're in time out and in trouble and they understand this is a consequence for what I’ve done,” Stephanie said.
“I think anytime you use something positive, it's new, but it's better than punishment,” Chad said.At Marshall's Child Development Academy, a donation by Chad Pennington's First and Ten Foundation made a recent training seminar on positive guidance possible.
The center plans to take the information from that workshop to help train professionals at other daycare centers. For parents who are interested in learning more about positive guidance and what it means.
What do you think? Is it good to use more nurturing and less discipline? I've always believed that a positive approach with children is far better than the normal negative approach of discipline. By focusing on the positive we are promoting behaviors that we want to encourage instead of those behaviors that we do not want...
