30 Days of Positive Parenting Week 3

Week 3: Discipline

Hello touchy subject, nice to meet ya!

We all know our children individually.

We all have completely different homes and families.

You will know what works for your children better than I do.

So go ahead and graze over this list of ideas for gentle discipline,

and either take it with a grain of salt, or find ways to toy with some of the suggestions

and adjust them however you want! 

Ideas for positive discipline:

Focus on teaching a lesson rather than inflicting a punishment

Replace punishments with consequences... you can discern the difference for yourselves

Communicate expectations and consequences clearly BEFORE you act on them. Give your child a chance by saying, "If you do that one more time, you will lose your playdough." 

Follow through with your expectations and consequences every. single. time. So don't "threaten" anything that you aren't willing to follow through with immediately!!!!

Get at eye level with your child, or below their eye level, and make physical contact (have them on your knee, or hold their hands, or hug them) whenever you are teaching them an important lesson.

 Avoid raising your voice

Avoid inflicting any kind of pain or fear

Maintain a positive countenance, and a quiet and sweet tone of voice

Choose. Your. Battles. In other words...let the small stuff go for heaven's sake!

Find a way to rephrase your words so that you are not constantly berating. Instead of saying "stop that" or "put that down" say "oh wow look at this!" or use other distractions to steer your child in a different direction.

Before losing your ish, ask yourself, "is my child acting appropriately for their age?" and then ask, "what lesson do I want to teach them at this moment? And how?"

Be intentional in your discipline. 

Act, do not react.

Go ahead and select from this list any of the ideas that you personally feel that you could focus and improve on and apply it (or them) throughout the week!

Be diligent and consistent!

Nothing ever improves if we give up too easily.

Seeing results takes time.

Have daily reminders set around the house- sticky notes, write it on the mirror, put a reminder on your phone, whatever you need to keep these things in your mind CONSTANTLY!

Good luck!

P.S. if you wish to share your experiences via social media, use the hashtag #30daysofpositiveparenting