It’s important to discipline our children as they grow up, not because it’s fun to do, but because it helps them understand the certain boundaries they need to live within in order to be healthy and happy. The standards you set now will carry with them throughout their whole lives. Of course, many people consider ‘discipline’ to be a reprimand, but that’s not always the case. Discipline is simply making a value judgement and going for the best option, making sure you’re able to get to it, or that your children are.
For instance, brushing our teeth before bed every night is a discipline, and bestowing that on our child is important. As you can see, discipline is more than a stern word or punishing a child. It is a very healthy process. So – how can we keep it healthy? Well, of course, first and foremost it’s important not to raise our voice, or to get emotional, or to let on any bad impressions or examples if our child is misbehaving. You’d also be forgiven for making a mistake in this regard from time to time – parenting is extremely tough.
But how else can we discipline our children to help them learn important and foundational life lessons? Let’s consider:
Staying Consistent
Staying consistent in your discipline is important because children often realize if they are being held to different standards from week to week. If there’s a bedtime you set – keep it. Make sure that you don’t allow them to jump around some nights, even on the weekend. If they’ve been mean to their sibling, don’t handwave it one day and reprimand them the next. This can take some work and none of us are perfect at applying it, but consistency can be the biggest aid to discipline in the best possible sense.
The Proper Environmental Feedback
In some respect, certain environments teach social discipline no matter what. For instance, placing your child in the best possible daycare can help them come into contact with other children, as well as responsible adults that know what children need. In this way, they begin to learn social boundaries and how to better work with other children – even if that means sharing a toy or simply being polite. In this way, your lessons at home are given credence in an environment you use to aid your own life convenience. That can be a great win-win for all parties involved.
Teaching Temperance & Patience
It’s important to teach our children patience and temperance. For instance, it might be that instead of purchasing that toy because they have asked for it in the store, you tell them that if they make their bed and eat their vegetables for a week straight, you will happily buy it for them. This helps them learn that earning something is more valuable than simply having it, and they learn patience through this, or a refusal of the reward if they fail to keep up with their tasks. Of course, not everything should be a harsh negotiation, but sometimes employing methods to help them understand what patience is (even if you don’t expect them to be patient as a child), will help the develop the foundational knowledge for later.
With this advice, you’re sure to discipline your child healthily, not punitively unless absolutely warranted. In this sense, you’ll go from an already great to an amazing parent.