Effective Discipline At Home: To Flog or Not To Flog? PART 2

Others require a consistent consequence to prevent repeat or escalation. Some problems, particularly those that involve intense emotional exchanges, may be handled best by
taking a break from the situation and discussing it later when emotions have subsided. Discuss developing alternative ways to handle the situation (removing attention), or, in many cases, avoiding these situations altogether. It is not possible for a child to know all the parents’ list of undesirable behaviour; therefore, they cannot be slandered for honest errors. Instead parents should be vigilant and constant communicate what is right and wrong.

Time-Out or Removal of Privileges

For young children, time-out usually involves removing parental attention and praise (ignoring) or being placed in a chair for a specified period of time with no adult interaction. This is often used by teachers in preschool. Your child may already be familiar with this method of discipline. For older children and adolescents, this strategy usually involves removing privileges or denying participation in activities (no TV or loss of driving privileges). To be effective, this method requires that a valued privilege is removed. In preschool, time-out has been shown to increase compliance with parental expectations from 25% to 80%, and similar results are seen when used appropriately with older children. To be effective, time-out must be used consistently for an appropriate duration. To be successful, time-out requires effort and practice on the part of the parents and, in some cases, further education of parents is required.

Verbal Reprimands

Verbal reprimands should not slander a child's character and should not call the person unimaginable names and should not accuse the child of doing what he or she did not do. It should focus only on what was done wrongly. The child should be given reasons why it was wrong or undesirable, and alternative ways of doing things should be reinforced. Verbal reprimands when used infrequently and targeted toward specific behaviours, may be effective in instantly halting or reducing undesirable behaviours. However, if used frequently and indiscriminately, verbal reprimands lose their effectiveness and become reinforcers of undesired behaviour because they provide attention to the child. Verbal reprimands given by parents during time-out are a major cause of reduced effectiveness of this form of discipline. It should ideally be given after time-out to give the child time to think about what he/she has done wrong.

Corporal Punishment

The American Association of Pediatricians condemns corporal punishment with research evidence. Spanking children less than 18 months of age increases the chance of physical injury, and the child is unlikely to understand the connection between the behaviour and the punishment. Reliance on spanking as a discipline approach makes other discipline strategies less effective to use. The more children are spanked,.........TO BE CONCLUDED TOMORROW