Thursday, March 29, 2012

Growing Kids God's Way: Discipline Issues Part 2

This is continuation from a post I made about a year ago!  Anyway, there are several behaviors that appear in early childhood that should be handled by reinforcement training.

1. Problem: Whining- unacceptable form of communication
Solution: provide an alternative.  Only respond to your children when they use words like please and thank you, etc.  If they are whining, say "try again."

Our 2 year old son was able to understand this.  We would tell him, "You need to ask correctly."  One day he was whining and we said that and then he said, "Can I ask correctly?"  Yes, you may!

2. Problem: Temper and Frustration Tantrums- immature emotional behavior
Solution: walk away or isolate child.  Do not spank, talk or bribe, but follow up with a consequence when the child settles down.  Train your child to express emotions properly.

This has been a tough one for me.  I know that when I remain calm, my son is able to get himself under control better.  At 3 years of age now, I'm trying a new technique that I wrote about last week called Positive Conclusion.  

There are several others addressed in this chapter like Power Struggles, Dishonesty, and Siblings & Conflict.

"Loving restrictions and consistent correction are ways of communicating concretely to the child that he or she is loved. Only when children are sure that their parents care about their actions can they feel desirous of following their parents' lead."  from Growing Kid's God's Way

Next week: The Appeal Process

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