How To Discipline A Child In A Healthy Way

How to discipline a child is the most common struggle of a parent. This is one of the most important issues that every parent juggles to discipline their children healthily. No parents want their child to misbehave, neither they want to shout or hit their children. It is a process of guiding our children to choose the right path for themselves. So that they never regret being responsible for their actions. As a parent, you should always be aware of your child’s behavior. From a baby to a kid, their attitude changes with their development. So being a parent, you too need to change your approach to discipline them according to their age. But the strategy should be in a healthy way so that your child should never get scared of your behavior.

What is discipline ?

Discipline is the quality to behave in a controlled manner and obeying the rules. It is the ability of a human being to train their mind and body to focus on their life goals and learn to control their emotions. So that they can lead a peaceful life. Self-disciplined is a trait that should be instilled from early age of life. Self-disciplined in life helps you to be more mindful and overcome procrastination.

Why is it important to discipline your child ?

A parent will accept the fact that shouting or hitting a child to obey rules doesn’t make the child disciplined. Yelling at a child is just a moment’s reaction as parents are tired or stressed to handle the situation. But we should always remember what is our goal before all these unwanted reactions. Parenting should always be positive, therefore parents should try to guide their children to learn how to lead a healthy and positive lifestyle. And for this reason, a child should be disciplined.

Discipline doesn’t mean punishment. If a child obeys rules in fear then they will never have that as a habit. So the main part of disciplining a child is to teach him/her to be responsible for their actions. They should be aware of the effects of their habits or actions. Teaching them the right thing and explaining to them the consequences of their wrong habits. In fact, discipline is all about positivity, so kids should never scared of the term discipline. Thankfully there are several ways to guide children to be disciplined in a much healthier way without being harsh or rude to your child.

Best Ways To Discipline A Child Positively

1) Pay positive attention to kids

Positivity is very essential for a child. And they also want their parent’s attention to do anything. Therefore parents should always pay attention to their kids and share positivity for their actions. It is not that whatever a child does will be right but a parent should consciously explain to them what to do in a positive way. This will encourage a child to overcome their problems. He will learn to solve their problems with positivity. Positive attention from parents makes their children feel secure and happy in their life. This will motivate them to stay on the right track.

2) Time out method

Time out method is one of the most important strategies to discipline a child. It is a method of separating a child from the place of misbehavior and moving him to a boring place for a few minutes. Don’t forget to tell your child the reason behind this action. So that they can think and realize their actions. And it is also a way to avoid shouting and being aggressive. But the time for time out has to be decided by the parents, as a thumb rule you have to give one minute per year for your child’s age. The technique of time out helps a child to calm down. And each time a child has moved away for time-out he will realize that he broke a rule and it is not good.

You can also use a portable parenting time out mat for your child. This mat is made from recyclable non toxic materials. The thought spot of this mat helps a child to learn discipline in a friendly way.

3) Stick to a routine

Sticking to a routine is essential for children to develop habits. Without a routine, life will be a mess. If there is no routine, children will feel puzzled as they will not be aware of their tasks and this will be uncomfortable for them. But routine should be realistic and involve children while setting the routine. As children want to get involve in decision-making. If a child does the same thing daily at a particular time then that will become his habit. A child will know that this is their bedtime and they will prepare themselves for their nighttime routine. Maintaining a routine has enormous advantages like learning about time management and it also gives a sense of independence and security.

Tip: Add some fun things to your child’s routine so that they will look forward for that and will be motivated to stick to the routine.

You can use a written routine reward chart and hang it somewhere that can be easily seen. This will teach a child the importance of routine and a disciplined life.

4) Set clear and realistic expectation

Every child is unique so we should not set our expectations based on ourselves. Children should be given scope to learn at their own pace, we should expect them to perform according to their development. This will help them to grow in their own way without the fear of failing or not meeting unrealistic expectations. Setting clear and realistic expectations will not only help children to focus on their goals but will also set an example for them on how to set expectations for other people.

5) Praise for their good habits

It is usual that children will not get success every time but we should not make them feel disheartened. You should always praise your child for their effort, this will boost their confidence. A parent’s positive words give extra strength to a child to achieve their goals. So every time you see your child working hard or building good habits, praise them for their effort. This will encourage them to behave well and stick to them.

6) Explain them the consequences

A parent should focus on the journey of building a habit not the result. When a child concentrates on the result, it will not become their habit. To teach discipline to a child, try to focus on their habits. So while telling them what to do and what not, tell them the consequences of their action. They should be aware of their actions and be responsible. If you explain to them the reason behind your no, it will be easy for them to understand.

7) Be their role model

A child is like a sponge, whatever they see around them, they absorb that. So being a parent, you are responsible to set an example for your kids. If you are disciplined in life, it will be easy for them to be discipline. As they see parents as their role models.

8) Be patient with your child

As I have mention above that parents are their child’s role model. So if you behave patiently and listen to them calmly they learn that too in their life. They will know how to behave with others. Being patient to your kids help them to feel secured during their rough times. And this builds a healthy and positive relationship between a parent and a child.

9) Move away

Dealing kids patiently is very important and a bit difficult too sometimes. Parents have thousands of things running on their back of mind while they are dealing with their kids. Kids are not at all aware of their parents stress and anxiety so they don’t understand the reason behind their yelling or shouting. They take it as a kind of behavior to deal with others. And unknowingly you are responsible for creating a negative impact on your child’s behavior. So the best way is to move away and give yourself sometime to calm down. We all are human beings and it is very common to get angry. But we should know the proper way to deal with it.

10) Being Mindful and distract positively

Teaching kids being mindful will really help them later in their life. And it helps parents too to deal with some difficult times. Mindful parenting helps a parent to react less to the challenges of parenting and enhances the habit of focusing on the present moment. Being mindful also stop us from overthinking. Some situations don’t demand us to be strict with our kids to make them behave properly. We just need to distract their mind positively to some other activities. And these distractions are great saviors!!

Note for parent

At the end of the day we all are human beings and no one is perfect. Parents too have all the emotions to express just we need to learn to deal with them. Parenting is a never ending journey of learning and getting better each day. Just be honest and have a healthy relationship with your child. Give yourself sometime to refuel yourself and love your child unconditionally.

A little tip, the moment you feel stressed with the challenges of parenting, just do these 4 steps :-

Pause

Take a break

Pat on your back

Love unconditionally

Happy Parenting!!

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