Child Discipline - Non-physical Discipline

Non-physical Discipline

Non-physical discipline consists of both punitive and non-punitive methods, but does not include any forms of corporal punishment such as smacking or spanking. There is an active effort on the part of parenting professionals and organizations to shift traditional parental use of corporal punishment to non-physical methods. The regular use of any single form of discipline becomes less effective when used too often, a process psychologists call habituation. Thus, no single method is considered to be for exclusive use. Non-Physical discipline is used in the concerted cultivation style of parenting that comes from the middle and upper class. concerted cultivation is the method of parenting that includes heavy parental involvement, and use reasoning and bargaining as disciplinary methods.

Positive forms of discipline that constitute a positive and appropriate discipline of children may include:

• Discipline with love
• Listen and communicate
• Focus on the behavior, not the child
• Respond immediately
• Relate the discipline to the offending behavior in duration and severity
• Be realistic
• Remain calm
• Be fair
• Do not harm or injure
• Set boundaries
• Make it a learning opportunity
• Be consistent
• Be creative
• Develop rules and expectations in advance
• Use timeouts
• Reward or praise desirable behaviors
• Model desired behavior
• Encourage the child’s cooperation and understanding
• Develop behavioral contracts and incentive charts