Being a parent is never easy!
Yes, your children may bring a smile to your face through their laughter but they can also bring frustration to your day when they are ill-disciplined.
Have your children ever made you so angry and frustrated through their mischievous antics that you are at the brink of pulling your hair out? Raising a child who reflects all the undesirable traits is certainly a handful.
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We have five useful tips in disciplining your child.
Just remember, violence is never the most effective option in disciplining your child and there are other means which prove to be more impactful in allowing your child to understand his/her mistakes.
#1 Reward Good Behaviour
Every child seeks the attention of their parents. Your child looks up to you as a respectable figure and craves for your acknowledgement!
Hence, for every good behaviour that your child exhibits, do remember to reward him or her with a treat or a praise as it encourages good behaviour.
A simple ‘good job’ or even a smile will act as a positive reinforcement and this motivates your child to be better behaved.
#2 Explaining the Consequences of Mistakes
Before you get angry and begin to reprimand your child for something he or she has done wrong, remember to calm down.
Allow yourself time to cool down and rationalise the situation before calmly explaining to your child what he or she did wrong.
Your child may have made an honest mistake without realising it. Thus, it is your job to explain to your child the consequences of his or her actions.
By doing so, your child can better understand the nature of his or her actions and be guilty of the mistakes. This allows your child to learn from what he or she has done and avoid your disappointment in the future.
#3 Be a Role Model
Being the centrepiece of your child’s life, you are subconsciously his or her role model Love it or loathe it, every action you do will be monitored by your child.
‘The Number One way human beings learn is through imitation and copy’ ~ Jim Fay, Parenting with Love and Logic
If you want your child to be polite and courteous towards other, be a role model and set an example for your child to follow! We believe that personal conduct acted out by you will leave a stronger impression within your child.
#4 No Spanking! Just Firm Discipline
I am sure that as a parent, we are all familiar with the phrase ‘Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child’. We definitely would not want to spoil our child so we do not spare the rod right?
Research has concluded that spanking is not an effective mean of disciplining a child. Such violent means of disciplining your child will damage his or her self-esteem.
Spanking can also cause physical harm to your children and make them resentful towards you. Such hate developed towards parents is never healthy nor effective in disciplining your children.
In addition, you wouldn’t want your child to become a parent and mimic such violent means of disciplining your grandchild in the future, would you?
#5 Understanding Your Own Parenting Style
Every parent has a unique disciplinary trait when it comes to disciplining their child. It is important to realise your own parenting style and improving yourself to become a more effective parent in disciplining your child!
1. Authoritative Parent (Most Ideal)
Primarily affectionate towards your child while setting rules which are clear and concise. Allows your child to realise and understand their mistakes through their actions. Overcome behavioural challenges through reasoning with your child and allowing them to learn.
2. Authoritarian Parent
Set clear expectations with rules where little negotiation for your child is made available. Shows little affection towards your children and disciplining them harshly when mistakes are made.
3. Permissive Parent
Shows much love and affection towards your child with little disciplinary action. Such parenting style is undesirable as it does not allow your child to realise and learn from their mistakes.
In conclusion…
In order to discipline your child, you have to be effective and impactful but such means are never derived from disciplining through violence. Spanking is never encouraged in disciplining your child. Before you raise your hand towards your child, always remember to calm down before doing anything else.
Grounding your child or reducing their allowance do serve as effective means of disciplining your child.
For example, if your child broke a plate on purpose, calm down and explain to him or her that such actions will not be tolerated. Deduct their pocket money to ‘pay for the plate’. Such actions will allow your child to understand his or her error and prevent similar mistakes from happening again.
Do not be afraid to let your children make a mistake. It is by your child being able to understand his or her own mistakes that would make him or her realise the consequences of the error and hence learning from it.
These tips will be an effective tool is disciplining your child and promoting good behaviour within them.
So, which parenting style are you currently practicing? Do you think your current parenting style is effective in disciplining your child?
Let us know in the comments below!
