A Parent Should Consider Other Means of Discipline Than Spanking Their Child

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Whenever a parent disciplines (means of correcting) a child, they are teaching them, and letting them know there are boundaries in life. Often time, children misbehave for one or several reasons: they want attention, do not know right from wrong, or do not know how to express their feelings, or simply want to see how for they can go outside their boundaries. Even though spanking a child may be a quick way of discipline, the effects sometimes do not accomplish the goal a parent is trying to convey. However, through means of nonviolent methods of discipline, such as short talks, time-outs, and taking away privileges, a parent can achieve cooperation and control; thus, teaching their child right from wrong by standing firm in punishment, which will carry through to a lifetime of lessons learned.

Depending on the age of a child, a good form of discipline can come from just talking with a child. Through conversation, a parent or, anyone for that matter, can discuss the child’s misbehavior, help them understand what they did was wrong and why. The “small talk” could deepen to discuss better ways to handle a situation that caused the misbehavior in the first place and other ways to make a better choice next time. In addition, a conversation can help a child understand how his behavior could affect not only himself but also others as well. Even though spanking a child may make them immediately stop misbehaving, it will not address the real situation at hand, such as why the child was misbehaving in the first place, thus it gives the child no other options and furthermore, makes the child frustrated or angry about the situation.

Time-outs may help younger children that are out of control or simply upset about something to s...

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...mselves. In addition, time-outs can help a child by letting the have a “cool-off moment” to settle down before returning to an activity thus it will help them understand how to handle themselves better. Furthermore, by taking away privileges, a child can learn what priorities are. Lastly, motivation, all though not a form of discipline, can help children realize there are good things to come if they behave. Although, spanking a child do not have any of these motives in mind; it is simply an immediate way of getting a child stop misbehaving and if continued through childhood could very well lose its effectiveness. Furthermore, it may lead to long term effects that a parent has not consider such as fear, guilt, resistance, rebellion and resentment in a child, not to mention, it may lead a child to thinking that hitting is a way of getting what they want and quickly.

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