Preschool Toddler Discipline

Many parents struggle with a big question – to spank or not to spank? It is important for you to find effective ways to discipline your child regardless of whether you believe the occasional spanking is fine or not. The thing about spanking is that it does not discipline a child, not a child of this generation anyways. Spanking is a way for parents to vent out their frustration. It does not solve any problems except for an immediate effect of ‘don’t do that’. Beyond this, spanking has no long term benefits.

Positive discipline however, is what gets your child to be a better person.

Communicating with your child on a regular basis is one good way to discipline your child. Find out the reasons why your child acts in certain ways. Most kids act out for the same reason some parents spank – to vent out their frustration. Help your child put his feelings into words. Encourage them to talk to you and tell you what they are feeling. Talk about ways to solve the problems too. Remember that your preschool child is just a toddler, he has limited vocabulary. You could come up with a way for him to tell you that he is upset or angry about something.

Instead of focusing on the negative aspect of discipline – punishment, focus on the positive – encouragement. Come up with a good behavior chart and show him how he can collect stickers on this chart for good behavior and get rewarded for it. He will love counting up to the time of exchanging stickers for rewards.

Children watch adults and mimic them all the time. Be a good role model by always using polite language and your child will learn that too. Shout at a fellow driver while your toddler is in the car, and he will do that too. It is sometimes difficult to be a good role model all the time, but try as much as you can especially when talking to your children and spouse, because that is what they will mimic.

Happy Parenting!