Child Discipline and Correction

While all training and correction methods will be tied to a child’s developmental age, each phase of training have common characteristics. Consider a preschool child. As a mom or dad you probably have come to realize there are times when your developing toddler will reject or strongly oppose your reasonable instructions. Usually, this is because the little one in your home doesn’t know your instructions are reasonable. What will you do when he explores places he should not go? What can you do to keep him on track and moving forward? Whether a toddler or a pretend, we suggest you guide with instruction, motivate with encouragement and establish necessary boundaries through correction.

There are a number of corrective strategies parents can use to their advantage, but ultimately the best form of parental correction is prevention. There is no better way to deal with behavioral problems than by preventing them from happening in the first place. Yet, the reality remains, correction will still be necessary. The good news is this: understanding the working components of instruction, encouragement and correction will help keep your little one on track and heading in the right direction.

The Weeding Challenge

There are two facts every gardener understands; first, weeds are everywhere, and second, if you don’t keep up with them, they can quickly overtake all your good efforts. What adds to the frustration in our gardening efforts is realizing we never sowed a single ‘weed’ seed. Weeds are just part of the soil, waiting for the right opportunity to sprout and grow. We never know when they are going to pop up because every weed has a different germination schedule.

Gardening and parenting have similar parallels. With toddlers, there are some unwelcome behaviors that just seem to pop up from time to time, and they must be weeded out. In parenting, the weeding process is called correction. Why weed a garden? Because we desire to give our plants the best environment in which to grow. Why correct children? For the same reason! We desire to give our children the best environment to grow in, unencumbered by competing forces that diminish healthy behaviors.