Disciplining your child is probably the most difficult but also the most important part of being a parent.
If there's no discipline in the early years of your child's life, he or she may have trouble down the road adjusting to the demands of academic, professional, and personal commitments. It's up to you to teach your child important lessons that will be fundamental to his or her ability to fully participate and succeed in life.
The following are five mistakes that it's important to avoid to ensure that discipline in your child's life is effective and helps your child to reach his or her full potential:
Inconsistently disciplining your child
Inconsistent discipline means condoning particular activities one minute and then chastising your child because of them later on.
Your disciplinary practices need to be coherent for them to make sense and for them to have a constructive effect on your child. Think carefully about what you're requiring of your child in terms of discipline and ask yourself if your demands are consistent from one day to the next.
Allowing your child to succumb to distractions while you're attempting to discipline
Discipline is especially hard with very young children because they are easily distracted and don't always fully understand why they're being punished or scolded.
Always ensure that your child is away from any distractions when you need to exercise discipline and your child is young enough that he or she may not fully grasp the significance of the situation.
Neglecting to explain why certain behaviors are unacceptable
Don't ever assume that your child is too young to understand the reasons behind disciplinary measures. You should always explain why certain behaviors that merit disciplinary measures are undesirable and potentially harmful to others.
Always trying to shield children from negative consequences
One of the best things you can do to naturally discipline your child and to ensure the full effect of disciplinary measures is to let him or her suffer from the negative consequences of his or her choices.
If you're always fixing the problem your child has created, your child may acquire an indifference to consequences that is likely to prove harmful in the future.
Being too ready to argue and disagreeing with your child in an aggressive way
While disciplining your child is important, it's also important to be accepting and nurturing to your child. If you need to scold your child, do so in an understanding and gentle way. Children can easily pick up bad communication habits if they're scared to tell you the truth about things because they fear a severe and excessive scolding.
For more information or assistance, contact a psychology expert, like one from NeuroHealth Arlington Heights​.
Share4 May 2017
From the time I was born to the time I graduated high school, my parents were very overprotective of me and shielded me from all of the "bad" things in the world. When I decided to go to college out of state, they wanted me to stay closer to home, but gave into my wishes eventually. Once I got settled at college, I realized just how attached I was to my parents. I began to feel so homesick that I almost quit before the first semester ended. I decided to visit a counselor to see if she could help me get through the semester, and after just a couple of visits, I began actually enjoying my time away from home. I know there are others in tough situations like I was who need guidance, so I decided to start a blog to share my tips for coping with stressful situations.
