Monday, October 12, 2009

Discipline the Right Way-God's Way

Children need to be disciplined-that is a fact of life. If they are not they will be terrors to all around them and they will not be truly happy. The happiest children are ones who have parents that love them enough to set boundaries and give correction when necessary.

A key word when thinking about discipline is CONSISTENCY!

That is to say: Consistency of the type of discipline for each offense and having each parent or caregiver be consistent-don't have one parent who doles out all punishment and the other does nothing or have one who does one punishment and the other does something different.

Of course this means that parents and/or caregivers will have to talk about what type of discipline to mete out (and when) before the infraction occurs.

My husband and I use a different type of correction depending on what the child has done. However, each time the child is unkind (pushes/pinches bites etc.) we have a specific punishment, this punishment is different from the one we mete out when he disobeys mom or dad. This way our son knows what to expect when he does wrong.

Discipline is not something that is achieved overnight! Right now my husband I are working with our 2 1/2 year old son and it is hard at times but we do correct him because we love him.

Another tip regarding discipline is that once the correction is over you need to re-assure your child that you love him and you are correcting him because you love him. Even before they understand all you say, the actions will speak to them. We pray with our son and hug him after discipline is over so that he knows we love him.

Make sure your marriage is strong and that your children see you and your husband/wife as a unit who both are on the same page-never let your child/children play one of you against the other.

Each day is a new challenge but God is gracious and we are learning as a family, I pray that your family will as well.

Some great resources for dealing with children are:

"The Strong Willed Child" & "The New Dare to Discipline" both books are by Dr. James Dobson

Also, read the Bible-especially Proverbs.

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