Don’t feel like your method of disciplining is working? Relax, you’re not alone. According to a recent poll, many parents also feel that their method of discipline is not working on their kids.
Researchers from Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, polled more than 2,000 parents of children between the ages of 2 and 11. They focused on four common discipline techniques: time-out, removing privileges, yelling and spanking. The research appears in the January issue of Clinical Pediatrics. Here’s a few of the highlights from the study:
Over 42 % of the parents surveyed reported time-out as their method of discipline.
42% said they preferred to remove a privilege.
13% admitted that they resorted to yelling as a discipline method.
9% said they spanked their kids to discipline them.
31% of those surveyed reported that they believed their method of choice was not effective.
38% said that they used the very same discipline method their own parents had used to discipline them as a child.
The researchers reported that they suspect the incidences of yelling and spanking were both under-reported by participants. If a parent feels that their method of discipline is not working, they will quickly let their emotions take over. So if time-out is not working, a parent might resort to yelling or spanking.
The researchers recommended that discipline be addressed by pediatricians when parents bring their kids in for routine visits.
I tend to use a combination of techniques when disciplining Tyler and I think many parents do the same. I can say that time-out has been the least effective technique that I have used. Even now when I tell him to take a time-out it generally escalates into a battle. He’s a very strong-willed child and I admit sometimes I lose this particular battle.
Removing privileges is fast becoming my method of choice. As I write this blog, I have Tyler’s V-tech because he threw a tantrum yesterday. I simply told him to pick his school bag up from the middle of the floor (not once, not twice but three times) and he actually had the nerve to stomp his little feet and act as if I was bothering him! So, without another word I politely took the V-tech from him. The one thing that I have found is he does not argue or try to get me to change my mind when I remove a privilege lately. If he acts up and I tell him he can’t go outside, he takes his punishment much better than he did just a few weeks ago.
What about you, what’s your preferred discipline method?
See also:
How To Get Your Kids To Listen To You
Using Brain-dead Phrases To Nip Power Struggles in The Bud