Do you have a naughty child

Children are not born disciplined. As a parent, you need to gradually teach them discipline. With time and practice, it becomes easier for children to regulate their own behavior.

Discipline helps children to think for themselves. It also encourages them to develop self control.

You should enforce discipline in such a way that your child can learn to be a master of their own behavior. Spanking your child is not a good option for disciplining your child. At first, it may seem as if spanking is an easy way to control your child. However, babies who are spanked usually cry louder than other babies and in older children spanking encourages violence.

Spanking is just a temporary solution since children tend to listen to you only when you are around. Good discipline however encourages children to behave themselves even when the parents are not around to watch them. It also lets you treat children with respect and they in turn respect you and listen to you.

Besides spanking there are several techniques that can help you discipline your child. You can set limits, you can make your child feel good about themselves, you can set an example and you can rectify misbehavior.

Show your appreciation of what your child is doing right. Each time you correct your child, also praise them for something that is in fact true. Whenever there is an improvement in their behavior, let them know that you have noticed the change in behavior.

Set limits by laying down a daily routine for your child. If the child knows what you expect from them in terms of chores, bed time etc they find it easier to stick to rules. Every once in a while, remind them of what you expect from them.

When you go about setting limits, begin with a set of basic rules. Too many rules will just end up making your child confused and they will find them hard to remember all of them.

Do not be authoritarian while setting rules. Give them the chance to express their opinion when you set limits. You do not need to agree with them but at least make them feel that you have heard them out. You may decide to set a few limits together so that your child feels involved in the process.

Be precise while setting limits. Don't just ask your child to come home early. Specify the exact time when you want them to back home. If your children get angry at you for setting limits, leave them alone for a while till they see reason. As long as you are not being unfair, stay calm. Try to talk to your children and find out the cause for discontent. If at some point you lose your temper unnecessarily, apologize to your child. This way they will know what to do in case they offend people.

Your initial efforts at disciplining your children may seem like a lot of work but once your children learn to control themselves, your labor will have borne fruit.