3 Tips For Positive Discipline
Watch the video to hear and see my 3 tips or read the article below:
Hi everyone. It’s Will Sickles from Busy Parent Guide. Welcome and thanks for watching!
I wanted to talk to you today about child behavior and discipline. I know this is something that I am always trying to figure out so I figured you may be in the same spot I am.
In this video I wanted to share with you some of the tips and techniques my wife and I use as well as some other suggestions I have learned from around the web. Sound good?
Tip 1: Stay consistent. Stick to the rules that you lay down and follow through with any consequences that you present to your child. This is sooo important! Your child will learn right away if you mean what you say or not. If you don’t follow-through on the consequence (provided your child keeps up with the bad behavior of course) then your child will realize that it’s OK to keep up with the bad behavior because mom or dad really won’t do anything. If you as a parent won’t stick to the rules then your child definitely won’t stick to the rules.
Tip 2: Model your discipline technique to fit your child’s temperament. You can’t expect to change your child’s personality completely. So figure out what works best for them and what they learn best from and go with that technique. For example, my oldest daughter learned very quickly when we utilized timeouts. So we stuck with that technique. For my youngest daughter, timeouts are not that effective so we use them less often.
Tip 3: Find out the underlying “Why” or root cause of your child’s bad behavior. Did something or someone bother them at school? Is there a change in the family that they are not comfortable with? The tough thing here is finding out the reason when either your child is not old enough to express the reason or your child just doesn’t want to talk about it. For my oldest daughter, even when we ask her what is bothering her, she is not willing to talk about it until bedtime. But the faster you can get your child to tell you the underlying “why” to their bad behavior the faster the bad behavior disappears. The key here is to ask consistently but not annoyingly. It’s tough to find that line but once you find it you’ll know.
Bonus Tip: Set a routine. Bad behavior and tantrums are often triggered by events or requests that seem to “pop-up” unexpectedly to your child. If you can get your child to learn to expect the requests and the routine then the bad behavior and tantrums should diminish. For example, if it seems like bedtime “pops-up” on your child and they have a difficult time transitioning to bedtime then take a step back to see what your bedtime routine is. Does bedtime happen at the same time every night? It should and that is a good place to start. Does bedtime follow right after a certain activity? Book reading or time labeled “quiet time” is always a good thing to do. Then your child will learn that after book time or quiet time comes bedtime. My daughters know that when the clock says 7:30 it is quiet and calm time. After quiet and calm time comes pajama time and bedtime. Of course this doesn’t prevent outbursts or tantrums every single night but 99% of the time our bedtime is pretty smooth.
I hope these tips help you in your journey. If you have tips please share to help the rest of us who are still trying to figure this parenting thing out!