Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Effective ways to discipline children

Well behaved children are a source of happiness. Children who are brought up in a disciplined manner are an asset to the society. They will be responsible citizens. The word discipline is derived from the Latin word for instruction. Practicing discipline in one’s life assures sure success. Children can be disciplined by their parents or elders in many effective ways. The lives of the parents can in itself be a perfect model. Children follow and practice what they learn from their surroundings.

 Obeying the law of society is discipline. Man is born into a society. He is a social animal. Each member of the society is a contributor of society depending on the type of deeds he does. In order to lead a happy life parents must discipline their children from young age itself. This is to avoid the already increasing anti social elements in society. The parents must instill human values like love, selflessness, service, non violence etc; in the minds of children. They themselves must practice what they preach. Otherwise their children will not follow them.

 The kids must be taught:
1} to not harm others –non violence
2] speak the truth and practice what is preached
3] study the lives and teachings of great people
4] practice devotion to God
5] do the duty towards self, family, community and nation
6] live within the bounds of morality.

 If a child does a mistake be it small or big, the parents must discipline the child in order to reform the behavior. Spanking or beating the child will not be of any help. It may elicit negative responses from the child. Dealing with problematic children is a very delicate situation. One must be completely prepared to handle a child’s reactions.

 A child who was once very obedient may start to reply sarcastically and rudely. Instead of reprimanding the child openly, the clever parent must befriend the child and explain in a coaxing way that his or her action is not proper or desirable. If the child understands or agrees never to create problems again, then the parent can reward the child to encourage it.

 A chart can be prepared by the parent. It can be hung in the child’s room. The chart can be drawn according to one’s imagination with divisions like good deed, bad deed, good words, bad words and help rendered to others. The good row can be marked with bright stickers and the bad row can be marked with black ink or crayons. If the good ones are more, the parent must appreciate the child and give rewards. This gesture will encourage the child and instill a positive attitude in the mind of the child.

 Small punishments like cutting television viewing time, reducing pocket money, not speaking to the child, making the child do chores which are generally not favored and giving imposition are effective measures. The children will learn to obey the parents more readily for fear of unpleasant punishments. Parents must never give in to tantrums even in public places because it will make the child think that he can win by doing so.