| The need for discipline Discipline is a necessary part of your child’s development.As a parent, it is your job to teach your child right from wrong, how to respectothers and make them realize that society has certain common rules that everyoneis expected to live by. Your child needs to know the difference between acceptableand unacceptable behavior. More importantly, disciplining your child is one wayof setting her on the right path. |  | Disciplining your child does not mean that you should punish yourchild. There are several ways to teach your child what you want them tolearn without using physical force. Getting your child to behave the wayyou want may seem like a difficult task,but with a little help andadvice, it may not be as hard as you think.
| | Smart discipline strategies
Here are some discipline strategies you can adopt whenyour child does not listen to you:
Logical consequences: When your child misbehaves,create consequences that fit her misbehavior. For example, if your child does noteat the dinner you fix, let her go to bed hungry. If she breaks her toy, don’t buyher a new one immediately. It will not be long before your child learns to playcarefully with her toys. Just make sure that the consequence does not put your childin any danger. This strategy will teach your child that she is responsible for theoutcome of her behavior and to learn from her mistakes.
Time-out: This strategyis usually recommended for those with younger children. When your child misbehaves,give her a brief explanation of why she is being given a time-out. Then send herto a boring place with no distractions, like TV or games. The general rule is that1 min of time-out is given for every year of your child’s age. For example, a 5-yearold would get a 5-min time-out. Explain to your child which behaviors will be punishedwith a time-out. If your child repeats it, send her to the time-out spot immediately.Once the time-out is finished, do not lecture or ask for apologies.
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 | Privileges restriction:With this strategy, you simplyremove a privilege that your child normally has.Your child will realizethat she has to give up something she likes when she does not cooperate.For instance, if your children are arguing over who picks theTV channel, you withhold TV viewing until they settle their differences.However, never take away something your child really needs, such asmeals.
Restitution: When your childmisbehaves, make her do something to make up for what she did wrong.For example,if your child calls her sister bad names, require her toapologize nicely.
| | Spanking—a bad disciplinary tool
Many parents thinkthat physical punishment, such as spanking, beating and slapping,becomes unavoidable to prevent undesirable behavior and to stop roughactivities of your child. Experts say that physical punishment onlyreinforces violence. Some reasons why you should never spank your childare: | - Spanking may make your child stop certain behavior. It may seem to work at the moment but it does not teach her to correct or change it.
- It may teach your child that violence is an acceptable way of solving a problem.
- It may increase your child’s aggression and anger.
- It may cause serious physical and emotional damage to your child.
- Your child may get used to the physical punishment and it may not mean anything to her.
- Your child may become depressed and lose self-confidence.
- Your child may tend to become violent when she becomes an adult. She may even rebel against you.
|  | Tips to make discipline more effective - Have reasonable expectations from your child. Be aware of her capabilities and limitations.
- Praise your child when she does well. Let her know how proud she makes you when she behaves well.
- Avoid too much criticism but make her understand why you are unhappy with her behavior.
- Do not focus on negatives all the time.
- Listen to your child and help her work through a problem.
- Work towards consistency. Try to make rules and approaches stay the same from day to day, and create a predictable environment so that your child knows what to expect.
- Stay calm. Avoid yelling and screaming at your child.
- Do not make too many rules.
- Be a good role model. Be sure to keep your promises. Your child will learn more from what you do than what you say.
- Let your child be involved in deciding when setting the rules for the family. Encourage her to speak freely with you.
- If you feel that parenting is challenging and have trouble disciplining your child, seek help. It will pay off in the long run.
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