by Cynthia Stodolka

Created on: March 31, 2010

The first and most important piece of knowledge that you must acknowledge as a parent or guardian in raising of a child, is that there is a vast difference in what discipline is and what punishment is.

The goal you are striving for is to find effective disciplining techniques for your child, which will teach them the difference between right and wrong, and help them to adjust their behaviour, or to correct their behaviour to more acceptable standards.

This is very important so the child sees his mistakes without making them feel humiliated ,or harming their self esteem which is what punishment can do.

Discipline is to show authority and stop your child's destructive behaviour, by teaching them that there are conquences for what they are doing or have done. That it is not the way you want them to be acting, breaking rules, hurting someone else or themselves.

Punishment whether physical such as spanking ,slapping the child, psychological, such as telling the child he is bad or worthless,or emotional, such as with holding affection, or ignoring the child, are all worthless ways of treating the child and can cause serious harm.

These methods do nothing to actually teach discipline to the child, or show him what the real natural consequences are of his behaviour.These methods are actually abusive and do not address the actual changing of the behavior.

They actually make the child feel useless, that their bodies are receptive punching bags for physical and emotional pain ,that they are helpless to control when administered by an adult who has control over them.

In searching for effective disciplining techniques for children, there are several steps you can take, to discipline without punishing ,and still have a positive outcome to benefit your child and correct his behaviour.

First, as soon as you see your child is misbehaving or needs correcting ,approach them immediately ,confront them, put a stop to what they are doing. Do not hesitate, or wait a few minutes, and let the behaviour continue. If it something your child did away from your presence, confront them the second you find out about it. Immediate intervention is crucial to show your child you mean business.

Second, show your child that their are natural, enforced consequences for their behavior. If your child has a friend over playing and you are getting them a dish of ice cream. All of sudden your child becomes aggressive,  takes a toy away from the other child and they

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>