Five Alternatives to Spankings

As parents we want to teach our children right from wrong. Spankings have been around since the beginning of time and the tradition continues. We'd like to look at 5 of the many alternatives to discipline without the use of spankings.

1. Suspend Priviledges. Make sure that the suspensions are not too long, as a long suspension will build resentment and the child (and parent) forgets the original reason for punishment. This will only reduce the effectivess of the lesson being taught.

2. Calm Down. Too often, parents lose their tempers very quickly. Try to leave the room and regain your composure before dealing with the situation. By doing so, you are giving yourself time to think of other alternatives to spankings.

3. Make consequences relevent to the action taken. Punishing a child with a week of no tv because they broke a toy, isn't relevent to the original action and a spanking won't necessarily prevent the same action from occuring in the future. Make sure that the consequence is one that will affect your child. Eg. If your child writes on the wall, he/she should have to clean not only the wall where the writing is but make them clean a few walls. If your child does not come into the house by curfew, punish them with a few missing outings in the future.

4. Give Choices. As parents we like things "our" way and there are major consequences when something is not done the way we want them done. By giving your child alternatives they are able to make choices and "feel" as if they are in control. However, by selecting the wrong choice, they receive consequences.

5. Time Out. Time out should be used for behaviors that are considered to be dangerous and/or harmful to themselves or others. Make sure that you keep time outs short, no more than five minutes. Make your child sit or stand in a place by themselves, where they cannot be distracted or entertained. Make sure that your child knows the reason they are being sent to time out and the correct thing for them to do in the future. Use a timer to keep track of the time (we don't want them there all day, because we forgot and strarted doing something else.) Make sure that you comment them on positive behavior (positive reinforcement).

Visit us at www.strkidclothing.com Check out Parents corner where we have polls, weekly articles, recipes and more.

STR Kid Clothing is a Child Clothing store specializing in new and slightly used children’s clothing. Visit us at: www.strkidclothing.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Five Alternatives to Spankings