We all loved well-behaved kids, and now that we’re parents, that feeling is even more intense. Good behavior not only inspires a sense of calm and satisfaction in our children as they grow up, but it also makes interactions with adults much easier.
But sometimes, things don’t go as planned. Kids throw tantrums or become rude or disrespectful to their friends or us out of nowhere. And while this is a parenting challenge every parent faces from time to time, there is a good side to these tough situations. These moments can provide a great opportunity for parents to practice positive discipline with their kids.
In this post, you will find twelve ways that practicing positive discipline can help turn those challenging moments into teachable moments for your child. But before we jump in, let’s first talk about what positive discipline is.
What is Positive Discipline?
Positive discipline is a parenting philosophy that focuses on praising and rewarding the desired behavior but never punishing the undesired behavior. It means that parents give their kids attention when behaving well, fulfilling social expectations, and working towards their goals. In contrast, parents avoid attention when kids misbehave, sending a clear message that their behaviors are unacceptable.
In Baby Steps Daycare, it is one of our goals to teach children about discipline and prepare them for life outside the safety and comfort of home. We teach them about kindness, respect, and other life skills to help prepare them for the future. And with these reasons, we are eager to help parents on how they can practice positive discipline with their kids.
To start with, Baby Steps Daycare gives you several benefits of practicing positive discipline at a young age. These are especially important to know if you’re interested in using positive discipline with your kids:
What Are The Benefits of Positive Discipline?
- Positive Discipline Helps Children Feel Motivated: Positive discipline helps children feel motivated to do what they need to do. It’s not easy to motivate kids when misbehaving, fighting with their siblings. But positive discipline doesn’t put a “parental foot” on their behavior. Instead, it instructs them what behaviors are acceptable and what aren’t and how to cope with emotions in difficult situations.
- Positive Discipline Encourages Positive Attitudes Toward Others: Positive discipline teaches children how to be respectful towards others. It teaches them how to treat others how they want to be treated. Kids raised with this type of training are better equipped when it comes time to interact with others in their daily lives. They learn that it’s always better to be nice and polite no matter what or who is involved.
- Positive Discipline Helps Children Learn New Skills: Positive discipline helps kids learn new skills by focusing on tasks or behaviors they need to improve. For instance, if your child is acting rudely at school, the best way to teach them how to act is to tell them what they did wrong and how they could have handled the problem in a better way. This kind of training helps kids learn by breaking down complex behaviors into small steps that are easy to understand.
- Positive Discipline Guides Kids Away From Danger: Implementing positive discipline guides them away from physical and emotional danger. This type of training helps children learn to show and respond to emotion with warmth and affection instead of acting out, which helps them be more friendly and know how to connect with other people
How To Practice Positive Discipline With Your Kids
Now that you know the benefits of Positive Discipline; let’s get into a few techniques that will help you practice positive discipline with your kids.
1. Use Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is the technique of rewarding the desired behavior with positive attention and pleasure. This method has been proven to provide an effective way to increase desirable behaviors in kids. You can take the opportunity to praise your child’s good behavior. For instance, if your kid is working on their homework, you can tell them how proud you are of the work they’ve done. When your child does something right, consider giving them a reward to encourage them to continue doing something right. For example, if your child improves their grades, or starts doing their chores on time, or shows more respect to others at school or home, you can reward them. Rewards don’t have to be big; small rewards like a day at the park or a weekend getaway with Daddy can work too.
2. Make Sure Your Child Knows Where They Stand
Positive discipline requires parents to set clear boundaries that they stick with when their kids try to push past them. The easiest way to do this is to maintain a clear and consistent behavior policy in the home. Here’s how it works. Tell your kids what behaviors earn them rewards and praise, as well as which behaviors get them nothing. Be clear about how you will respond if your kids misbehave. Your children should also know that you may change the rules in the future, but you will give them a fair warning before you do so.
3. Redirect Your Kid Instead Of Saying No
When we say no, kids feel we don’t want them to do what they want or think they can’t do it. Saying no usually makes kids defensive and angry. It can be a very frustrating situation. On the contrary, redirecting our kids makes them feel good about themselves because they know we care about them. They will understand that we are just giving them another option to choose from, and some things are not good for their health, safety, or happiness.
4. Use Single-Word Reminders To Your Kids
Small and single-word reminders can help your children remember behaviors that you want them to follow or stop from doing. When you use simple single-word reminders, such as “please,” “thank you,”; as well as when your child does something wrong, it makes them aware that what they are doing is not right. It helps your children remember certain lessons needed for life in general.
5. Use Time-In
Time-in, unlike time-out, you are still present with your kids during this discipline technique. Time is a form of discipline where the child is given an activity that promotes calm and relaxation. This technique can be used to help kids stay positive and calm in difficult situations. For instance, after a bout of bad behavior, you may sit down with your child and do some activities; the activity can be drawing, playing with a toy, or taking a walk. The activity can also be not so fun, like coloring pictures of trucks and cars. When your kid has calmed down, explain better choices next time, and encourage him to apologize for their bad behavior.
6. Do Selective Ignoring When Your Child Is Doing Attention-Seeking Behaviors
In selective ignoring, you don’t respond to your child’s attention-seeking behaviors. For example, when your kid purposely spills milk on the floor or interrupts when you’re having a conversation with another parent. When a kid fails to see a reaction from you, a child will begin to get the message that attention-seeking behaviors aren’t acceptable. They will less likely not act out in attention-seeking behaviors again.
It’s hard to change a bad habit or stop misbehaving for good, but with the help of positive discipline, we can turn things around for our kids. The way you act toward them and speak to them will help them turn into better and productive adults. Make positive discipline a daily practice in your family and see its difference.
In Baby Steps Daycare, we implement different discipline techniques like positive discipline in our daily lives with the children in our care. We urge you to try them out at home to see how they work and translate into more responsible kids with increased relationships with their peers, parents, and teachers. And, as always, if you have questions about positive discipline or Baby Steps Daycare in general, please contact us at any time.
