observation

On a sunny Tuesday, at approximately four pm, a little girl wearing a navy blue dress walked into Chik-fil-A holding her exhausted looking mother's hand. The mother was pushing a stroller that carried a male infant inside. The little girl appeared to be irritable and did not appear to listen to anything that the mother was saying. When they approached the counter, the mother asked the little girl what she wanted to drink, and the toddler screamed that she wanted a milkshake.
The mother replied calmly to her daughter that she did not “earn” a milkshake for the day. She went on to tell her daughter that she is not allowed to try to hit her baby brother and as a result of her actions, she is not going to be rewarded. I was genuinely surprised that this woman had taken the time to explain to her child why she was in trouble. That does not occur often, especially when a mother is in public. After examining my textbook, I realized that the mother had exemplified inductive discipline. She also had completed it within a time frame where her daughter would be most likely to learn from her actions. As a result, her daughter would be less likely to repeat her undesirable behavior, therefore making the mother's decision to quickly rebuke her daughter an effective discipline technique. Unfortunately, while the mother was not stern or mean with her daughter, the toddler burst into tears and tried to stomp off into a different area. The mother quickly paid for the meal and hastily grabbed her daughter's hand before her daughter agitatedly walked into a large throng of European tourists.
The poor temperament that the toddler exhibited did not appear to be genetic, because the mother, while exhausted, appeared to retain a sense of good humor as s...

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...daughter what she had done wrong and why she was not going to get a milkshake as a result of her behavior. This method is extremely effective when rearing children because strong communication helps the child understand how their behavior impacts other people and how to learn to control their behavior. The little girl that I observed is less likely to misbehave again because her mother used inductive discipline to clearly communicate what is considered acceptable. In contrast, parents who are uninvolved in their child's life have very low levels of self- esteem and social disturbance very early on in their lives. This results in the child most likely growing up to be less successful than their well-cared for peers. The neglected children most likely exhibit deviant behavior as a result of their parents never clearly communicating what they expected from their child.