Fair Discipline for Kids

In a world where kids seem to be growing up faster and acting so precocious, it's easy to want to rail against the trend and set down more rules. Kids need rules, after all, and learning to respect rules and boundaries is a critical part of a child's development. However, as is true for any goal, it is important to keep the reverence for rules in proper perspective. Remember that you should be more interested in the spirit of the law than with the rule of law. You need to know when kids' discipline is needed and when it's OK to let things slide.

Here are some simple tips for keeping your strictness in check:

• Choose your battles. Determine which things matter and ease up on things that don't.
• Negotiate a few firm rules (no hitting, no running in the street) and adapt them as your child matures. Review your expectations with your child. Consider dropping less important rules in exchange for firm adherence to a few that you consider vital. Explain to your child why these rules are important to you and be firm about upholding them. Be aware these rules may eventually need to be adapted.
• Make sure the punishment fits the crime. Don't go overboard on small infractions!
• Don't hit! Research shows that spanking isn't effective and only teaches your kid that it's OK to hit people. Not a good lesson!
• When at all possible, try and distract your kid. It's so much easier to redirect a kid than to punish him.
• As you kid gets older, trying using time outs (1 minute per age) and the 1, 2, 3 Magic technique (count to 3 to give the child the chance to shape up before you implement consequences).
• Try to stay calm and not raise your voice. Kids respond better when you're cool, calm and collected.
  
  Check out this page full of kids' discipline information!