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Effective Parenting: Discipline

Table of Contents


Overview

Positive discipline means thinking of discipline as a way to guide and teach your child about positive ways to behave. It uses discipline proactively. The goal is to use techniques that encourage your child's sense of responsibility, nurture self-esteem, and strengthen your relationship with your child. This may involve setting limits, explaining why a certain behavior is wrong and what can be done instead, discussing values, and using distraction, time-out, and natural and logical consequences.

Using positive discipline

No one technique of discipline works for all situations. The wise parent develops a variety of skills and approaches. Here are some techniques you can try that use discipline in a positive way.

It is important to continually learn and practice good parenting techniques, using different discipline strategies as your child grows and develops. All discipline techniques must be age-appropriate so that the child understands the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Babies younger than age 18 months cannot understand these concepts.

Contact your child's doctor if:

You can get other parenting tips from your child's doctor, a local hospital, and national parenting groups.


Credits for Effective Parenting: Discipline

Current as of: October 24, 2023

Author: Healthwise Staff (https://www.healthwise.org/specialpages/legal/abouthw/en)
Clinical Review Board (https://www.healthwise.org/specialpages/legal/abouthw/en)
All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.


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