Some parents believe they discipline their children yet are shocked that their kids do not respond to the discipline and it doesnt change their actions. In these situations the parents wonder why their discipline methods are not working. The answer is that most of the time the discipline methods being implemented are not working because they are not the right methods for the child, are not implemented well, or simply not enforced. The following overview will explain in more detail why discipline methods dont work on some occasions.

Not Consistent
In order to have a well behaved child that responds well to discipline you must be consistent. Consistency is ensuring that every time your child misbehaves he is disciplined. Over time the child relates bad behavior to punishment and good behavior to no discipline. So, the kids will soon begin behaving to avoid discipline. However, if you are not consistent your child will realize that his bad behavior is punished sometimes yet not all the time. As a result the child will always misbehave because he does not associate certain behaviors with discipline. You must be consistent if you want your discipline methods to work.

Doesnt Affect the Child
Another reason your discipline methods may not be working is because they dont affect the child. For example, if when your child misbehaves you discipline by taking away television time but your child never watches television then the discipline method wont be affective on your child. You must find a method of disciplining that makes the child regret his bad behavior and want to correct it in the future. So, if your child lives for Playstation then taking away the Playstation for a week for certain misbehaviors is a great way to discipline and your child will soon learn.

Not Enforced
Discipline methods wont work if they are not enforced. So, if you ground your child for a week then you must make sure that the grounding stays in effect for the entire week. If you cut the punishment short simply because your child is making your life difficult then you are undermining your own discipline efforts. Because of this it is very important to ensure that whatever punishment is doled out is enforced. Without enforcing the punishment your child will realize that he may be disciplined but you wont follow through with it so he can basically do whatever he wants and then skip out on the discipline as well.

There are many reasons why your discipline methods may not be working. These are just a couple of examples that frequently cause discipline methods not to work. If these dont apply to you then sit down and think about your child and your discipline methods and find a new way to discipline and see if that works. Sometimes just changing your approach is enough to get your discipline methods to work.

Posted in Parenting

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