3 Effective Child Discipline Techniques That Work Like A Charm

Learning effective child discipline techniques is very important, especially in these modern times. With so many parents not really knowing what to do or how to deal with their kids, it’s not a surprise how many children end up having complicated personal issues and baggage at a very young age!

With the help of effective child discipline techniques, however, you can be confident that your kids will grow up to be mature and level-headed individuals. Read on to find out more!

Effective Child Discipline Technique # 1: Stick To The Plan.

When you tell your children that they must sleep early or else they won’t have dessert for a week, you must mean it.

You can’t suddenly back out from the deal just because you feel guilty or sorry for them. Never mind that dessert happens to be their favorite chocolate cake; you still need to stick to your guns. Why?

Well, it’s easy enough to forgive and forget; but that gives your children the assumption that they can get away with basically anything because you won’t follow through with their punishment anyway.

And that is one lesson you don’t want your kids to learn if you want them growing up to be responsible adults.

Effective Child Discipline Technique # 2: Take On A Serious Tone.

Getting your child to behave and listen to you has a lot to do with how you phrase your warnings and what tone of voice you use.

Asking your kids if they could please stop playing ball inside the house in a needy and desperate tone is definitely not the best way to go about it. Instead, be direct.

In an authoritative voice, tell your kids, “Don’t play ball inside the house.” Giving them a stern look also works wonders.

Effective Child Discipline Technique # 3: Talk To Your Kids About The Consequences Of Their Actions.

It’s crucial to teach children why they should or shouldn’t do certain things. For example, it’s not just enough to say, “Don’t play ball inside the house or else you won’t get dessert for a month!” Not getting dessert isn’t the real consequence here.

Teach your kids why they shouldn’t be playing ball inside the house in the first place. “If you play ball here, you’ll break our vases and hurt yourself.”

By making your kids understand that there are real consequences, you’ll have more responsible kids in the future.

Effective child discipline techniques aren’t about physical punishments. Most of the time, they’re about treating children like adults, making them understand the gravity of the situation and leading by example.

Effective Child Discipline- Parents Need to be Consistent

When a situation occurs when you know you should implement child discipline do you feel that it’s much easier just to let the child get away with something rather than fighting a battle which you may lose? Children know how make such a big fuss or scene that make it very difficult for parents to follow through with child discipline. If this is a typical response for your child then it is even more essential that you do follow through with child discipline to teach with is acceptable child behavior. However, there should not be any exceptions in child discipline for unacceptable behavior, and consequences should not be negotiable.

Parents should have previously discussed with their children the consequences of unacceptable behavior and made it clear what bad child behavior looks like and child discipline will be implemented. It is essential that children know ahead of the event what the consequences that parents will implement when unacceptable behavior occurs. Having had a previous time with your child clearly explaining the consequences on unacceptable child behavior, and clarifying understanding, it should be reasonable to implement child discipline.

 Parents need to understand that it is normal for all children to test their limits and boundaries . Do not permit children to influence you from following through firmly and fairly with child discipline when these limits are tested. Your decided consequences for child behavior problems needs to be fair and suitable for your child’s age. Be sure to review your child discipline strategy periodically, and be willing to adapt as your child grows older. It is extremely important to be consistent with child discipline.

Parenting With Consequences not With Punishment

Parenting in the modern age can be a particularly daunting task. We are constantly being told that smacking a child is not appropriate and that punishment in general is not effective parenting. However, punishment and consequences are not necessarily the same and is definitely a positive way of disciplining your children. A proper form of discipline teaches the child to become a responsible adult with self-discipline and consideration for other people.

Consequences, when used correctly, encourage good behaviour and help to keep the lines of communication open between parent and child. However, it is not enough to use negative consequences solely in teaching children to behave appropriately as this only teaches them what not to do rather than teaching them more appropriate behaviours. It is also necessary to use positive consequences for good behaviour as well as being open and honest with your children as to what you expect of them.

When you focus on the good behaviours and praise the children for these behaviours, the bad behaviours generally decrease and negative consequences are needed less often. Remember that consequences are only there to apply boundaries and reinforce rules when verbal reminders haven’t worked.

It is important to think carefully about the type of negative consequences used for bad behaviour as overuse or inconsistency can render them ineffective.

There are three types of consequences and these will each be explained in the following paragraphs. The three types are natural consequences, logical consequences, and loss of privileges. Each of these can be used as required, depending on the behaviours displayed by the child.

Natural consequences can teach your child lessons without your intervention. However, these can be either good or bad. An appropriate natural consequence may be where a child refuses to eat a meal. The child will then feel hungry and will learn quickly that refusing to eat is not appropriate and leads to personal discomfort.

In a bad sense however, the consequence of behaviour may lead to injury in which case it is important for the parent to intervene in order to protect the child. Also, natural consequences can actually reward bad behaviour. For instance, a bully is rewarded when the victim gives in to demands.

A logical consequence is one that is in relation to the behaviour displayed. An example of this would be where the child throws food or drink on the wall or floor in temper. When the behaviour has subsided, the child would then be expected to clean up the mess. This form of consequence gets the child to think about what they have done and the consequence of their actions. These consequences are fairer as they are relevant to the particular behaviour.

Loss of privilege may be used as a negative consequence for some behaviours such as swearing and aggressive behaviour and may range from losing the privilege of watching a television program to not being taken on an outing.

The use of time-out is appropriate when the child is being particularly difficult or where both parent and child are feeling angry and need a short break to calm down in order to address the situation more appropriately.

Although negative consequences are an important tool for parenting, it is important to be aware that encouragement for good behaviour will lead to less need for these consequences. To bring about this situation, children need to understand exactly what is expected of them. Obviously, if the child then ignores rules and subsequent reminders, then negative consequences need to be applied. However, these need to be consistent and must apply to all children in the family regardless of age and gender. Otherwise, the child will see it as favouritism toward other children and this may lead to a diminished sense of self worth.

Also, keep the consequence short in order to give the child a chance to try again. Don’t take the toy away for hours…take it away for fifteen minutes or so. The consequence does not have to be long or harsh for it to work.

It is also important to implement the consequence calmly and without getting personal. Refer to the bad behaviour not to the bad child. Remaining neutral and in control lets the child learn from the situation rather than worrying about how angry the parent is with them.

All children display negative behaviours at times. How you deal with these behaviours as a parent can make all the difference in maintaining that close bond with the children. Don’t confuse negative consequences with punishment and use the negative consequences in a constructive manner. Happy Parenting!!!