After School Advantage: Discipline
Thank you for joining us again for our fourth segment in the series. Today we review our discipline system at home.
What kind of discipline system do you use at home? Do you use the time out method? Corporal punishment or licks? The conscious parenting method? Or the 123 Magic Method?
When we hear discipline we think the practice of training people to obey rules using punishment to correct, but that’s not what we want for our little ones.
A definition that I prefer is that Discipline is the greatest form of self-love… it is ignoring current pleasures for bigger rewards to come.
What do you think about that definition? Do you think that it also applies to children as well?
I’ve thought about it, and I believe that it does hold true. Any situation that you can think of that would entail discipline for them, is really training them to ignore their current want/pleasure until a later time.
Remember all children are different, so discipline methods too should vary according to the child. There are some children who are very amiable and some that are strong willed. So what should you do?
Years ago, when I was looking for a discipline method for my older children, I came across the book 123 Magic Method by Dr. Thomas Phelan. His book was a lifesaver as his philosophies on child rearing rang true with me because in discipline scenarios, the person we need to calm down the most is usually us.
His book discussed the 3 Parenting jobs and action strategies to put in use immediately. These jobs are to:
- Stop/Control Obnoxious behaviours
- Start/ Encourage Positive behaviours
- Strengthen Your relationship with your child
His philosophies explain why trying to reason with or discuss behaviour issues with children don’t work and why the 123 method does. Feel free to check out the book on Amazon.
I’ve used this method, personally with my kids and at Fast Learners with much success.
Regardless of whatever discipline system you are using at home, I hope that it is done in a positive way that protects your child’s mental health and yours.
Stay tuned for more fun and learning with Dairy Dairy the milky milk and don’t forget to use the developmental checklist from our first blog to work on skills for all areas of development.
