On a recent Raising Boys and Girls podcast (see below), the hosts discussed "How to Be A More Consistent Parent" in discipline. They began by pointing out the two biggest mistakes parents make in regards to discipline: too much talk and too much emotion. Then offered two keys to discipline: consistency and follow through. Consequences should be enforceable, short-term, and able to be build on themselves.
As the host explained, "If we let kids get away with being the worst version of themselves, that's who they will believe they are." Rather, consistent parenting develops when we parent out of love and not fear. By establishing a system of discipline with intentional practices, parents are able to teach and reinforce self-regulation, which is the ultimate goal of discipline.
Our classroom discipline policy reinforces these principles by letting the students clearly see their movement up or down on the clip chart and provides a warning to allow them opportunity to self-regulate. We discuss their power to choose often. Furthermore, the consequence (time walking on the playground or sitting out during inside play) meets the criteria of being enforceable, short-term, and building, in that we can add more minutes as the students choose or don't choose to regulate their behavior.
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