How to Discipline your Children without using Physical Force

Most experts do not suggest the use of physical force when disciplining your child. There are a number of other methods that you can use when correcting your child that can be very effective. Consider the following ideas.
Time out
Time out is a very common way to discipline your child. A general rule that some experts suggest is to send your child to time out for one minute for every year of their age. For instance, a four year old would have a time-out duration of four minutes. You may have a specific spot that they do their timeout. You can buy a “time-out” pad that even has a timer on it. Alternatively, you can just lead them to the nearest corner or have them sit where they are.
Take away a privilege
A lot of parents will take something away from a child as a discipline. It might be a treat. It might be their allowance. It might be television or video game time. It should fit the crime and not be something so harsh that it will scar them but something they care enough about not to repeat the behavior.
Deciding when to discipline
You can not necessarily going to send your child to time-out or take away her treat at every little indiscretion. Children are not perfect and you could be punishing them all day if you got on every little thing. One strategy that a lot of people use for smaller “crimes” such as not coming right when you call them is to give them a count to three to do it. This will give them a chance to improve their behavior and hopefully they will learn to correct it on their own. Of course this extra chance should only be given for small issues – if they hit you or do something very bad then the discipline should be automatic. Also, make sure that the discipline is right away. Especially smaller children will have difficulty connecting the infraction with the punishment if you let time lapse between them.
No matter what type of discipline you use it is important to follow through. For instance if the punishment is that they cannot have dessert after dinner then do not give it to them anyways after you have cooled down. It will show them that you do not mean what you say and they will have less reason to listen to you. Also, if possible try to reward the good behavior. They may take more cues from this than the punishment. Look to the above ways when disciplining your child.
Updated On: 07/30/2010 Published On: 07/30/2010 Article ViewerClose
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