CHILD DISCIPLINE

I wouldn't be starting off writing this right if I don't mention that over here, we confuse punishment for discipline. Whenever we hear the word discipline, it sounds more to us like flogging and all of that.

Discipline takes different forms and works effectively much differently on each child, and so I would not exclude the above, considering it worked in time past and still does, in certain cases and moreso, in this part of the world.

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My parents used different methods of discipline, growing up. My mother did not spare the rod. She yelled, she talked and she used her cane(not much anyway). My father, on the other hand, was the chill one. I don't remember a time he ever punished me. Ever. He used his words, not bad words. He preferred to just tell you not to repeat an action and to give words of advice which came in the calmest voice in spite of the situation. He did not flare up. And to me, they both sort of balanced each other out.

When I started to teach kids, I didn't have the patience with them as I do now. I only had, in my head, methods I would take to groom kids, which were dissimilar(some) from what I had growing up. And then, being with these kids made me realize how much difference they showed individually. Differences to study, to task, and to discipline(what worked and didn't have effect on each). So, I thought to myself that if I ever wanted to have kids and how to handle them, that was an opportunity to actively learn from that process. And boy, did I do that!

Lime I mentioned earlier, discipline takes different approaches, and what works with kid A might not make kid B flinch. And so it's important to observe and learn each child and how to follow him up. And patience...be very patient. In my case, I'm usually the strictest until I soften up. Nah, I don't do caning. I'm more like my dad, not disposed to raising my hands. Talking and giving cold stares work best so I've found.

But then, to discipline a child, a person could...

..take up the positive reinforcement pattern, which generally involves rewarding children for good behavior, such as giving them praise, gifts, or privileges for following rules or meeting goals. This method focuses on encouraging positive behavior rather than punishing negative behavior.

A parent could give punishments for bad behavior, making sure to explain to the child that there are consequences to every action and not forgetting to administer just the appropriate punishment per action and age of the child.

And importantly, counsel! Talk! It's more what I think worked for me. Never stop advising and listening and correcting, and let it be devoid of abuse. Kids listen, and sometimes, more than the punishments, the words strike them the most.

There are more forms than this for child discipline. These are the ones i could state.

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