As a parent, teaching and using positive discipline with your child is a big responsibility. It’s a profession that requires patience and time. However, learning practical and healthy disciplinary actions can be challenging. So to help you out, here are some effective tips to discipline your child.
Positive Discipline Tips
Remind them of Consequences.
Explain consequences to them if they don’t behave calmly. For example, if they don’t pick up their toys, you’ll put them away for the remainder of the day.
Make sure you’re ready to act immediately. Don’t surrender by returning their toys just after a bit of whining. However, you should never take something such as food away from them.
Don’t respond to bad behavior.
Ignoring bad behavior can be an effective strategy to stop your child from doing anything risky. In addition, ignoring inappropriate behavior can teach young children about the natural consequences of their actions. This is a wonderful way to teach positive discipline.
For example, if a child repeatedly drops cookies on purpose, they will soon run out of cookies to eat. It won’t be long before they understand not to drop the cookies again.
We typically focus on and call out our children’s negative behavior as parents. Children could interpret this as a tactic to obtain your attention, continuing bad behavior rather than putting an end to it.
Provide them with positive attention
Simply put, children need attention. So kids will seek out any attention they can get, even if it’s negative. They’ll take advantage of negative actions because it forces us to focus on them entirely.
Simply spending a few minutes a day with them, distraction-free, and doing something they enjoy will significantly impact their behavior. Even more so, praising is highly beneficial to children. It helps them feel special and appreciated.
Provide structure
It can be a real challenge to maintain consistency in your daily activities in today’s crazy world. Children, on the other hand, thrive when they have structure and are aware of their limits.
Kids have a framework to work within when expectations are clearly explained ahead of time. So let them know the structure and ground rules early on.
Never spank them
Spanking has several drawbacks, one of which is that it does not educate your child on behaving better. For example, spanking your child for having a temper tantrum will not teach them how to control their emotions the next time they are upset.
Learn how to handle situations
Learning how to handle problems, regulate emotions, and compromise can benefit children. When parents teach these skills to their children, it can drastically lessen behavioral issues. Use positive discipline that is intended to teach rather than punish.
For example, If your child frequently fights with their siblings, create a reward system to encourage them to get along better.
Be ready ahead of time
Some misbehavior can be avoided if you can predict what will trigger it. Therefore, you should prepare yourself ahead of time by removing concrete incentives. Prepare for any new encounters with your child by thinking about how you anticipate them to behave.
Don’t lose control
Sure, it isn’t easy to maintain composure when your young one pulls the dog’s tail or refuses to wash their teeth for the thousandth time. However, if you yell in frustration, the message you’re attempting to convey will be lost, and the situation will quickly get out of hand.
Take a deep breath and count to three before lowering yourself to your child’s level. Then, when you talk to them, be quick, forceful, and stern.
Conclusion
Parenting is extremely challenging at times, but it’s also highly satisfying.
Being a good parent will reap many benefits later in life, and you’ll be proud of how you raised your child.