It is understandable that every day is a struggle if the toddler misbehaves. Many parents still believe that the best way to discipline a toddler when misbehaving is through hitting or spanking. This is not the best strategy because it will only teach the children one thing – everything can be resolved through aggression or acts of violence.
It is time that you know about positive parenting. Positive parenting is a philosophy based on physiatrists Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs. Dr. Jane Nelsen then refined it and made it popular for parents having difficulties disciplining their children. Positive discipline stresses mutual respect and employs positive instructions. It gives importance to learning instead of punishing.
Studies show that positive discipline shows a better outcome when it comes to behavior, emotional growth, mental health and academic performance. So, How You Can Discipline Your Toddler? Here are some tips:
Focus on the reasons
If you hit the child without asking the reasons behind the behavior, you are making it worse for the child. Remember that there is always a reason why children misbehave. The reasons may seem silly to you but to them, it is reasonable. Knowing the reason can help you avoid it in the first place. If you address the cause directly, children will feel that their needs are recognised.
Be kind but firm
Many parents show tough behavior because they do not want to give in to the children. That is not helping. If you are kind and respectful, the child will learn to deal with difficulties in the same manner. If you are yelling or humiliating the child, the child will learn to do the same thing. Do not equate kindness to leniency. You can be firm in setting the limits. After that, you can calmly enforce the consequences so that the child knows what to expect.
Be non-punitive
Punitive punishment generates resentment, rebellion, revenge, and retreat. These things will not help the children learn. In most cases, the punishment cannot stop bad behavior. What you need is to engage the children in learning new behavior. To do this, you need to remove the children from the stimuli that aggravate the behavior and put them in a place to cool off. Be consistent and follow through.
You have to explain the consequences of misbehaving before enforcing it. The trick here is to be consistent and follow through. If you are not consistent, the children will be confused. As a result, they will challenge the limits and see what happens. Follow through means continuing the action or plan until it is achieved. In this case, you need to check the children and see if they learned their lessons at the end of the day.