Most children are surprisingly well-behaved, although reports suggest that as many as 40% of children behave badly in classrooms. It’s believed that this issue is connected with a lack of respect for teachers.
If this is the case then it is more important than ever to encourage good behaviour when children are young and get the discipline right. The simple truth is that kids learn a lot through imitation. If you behave the way you expect them to behave then they will generally be well-behaved.
Of course, every child gets it wrong sometimes. That’s when discipline is needed. But, if you adopt too heavy-handed an approach you are likely to cause resentment and potentially make the problem worse.
Whether you’re struggling with disciplining kids or want to get ahead of the curve, you need to consider using the warnings system. It’s also a good idea to ensure that the preschool they go to uses the same system as this preschool Valley Heights does.
How The Warnings System Works
Children, just like adults, don’t respond well to being yelled at. That’s fair, no one likes being yelled at, especially when you may not even have realized you’ve done something wrong.
Instead of yelling, or offering a punishment, you need to give your child a warning.
The warning is simple, it’s exactly what it says it is, a warning. For example, asking your child to clear their toys away before you eat means telling them how long the food will be. You then maintain fairness by giving them a reminder, such as one minute until food.
If they fail to comply they are given a warning.
All warnings are recorded on a chart, ideally, they should be clearly displayed on the refrigerator or somewhere similar.
If your child gets a set amount of warnings they will receive a punishment.
Setting The Punishments
Remember, the point of discipline and warnings is to help your child learn acceptable behaviour. That means the punishment needs to reflect the deed and encourage them to correct the behaviour in the future.
The simplest way of doing this is to remove a privilege. For example, if your child gets three warnings in a day they don’t get to choose the television program after their evening meal or bath. They do still get television but they don’t get to choose.
If they get five warnings there is no television. It doesn’t take long for children to learn to minimize warnings, giving you better behaviour and no need to shout.
What Deserves A Warning
A critical part of this system is defining warnings before they happen. There are some behaviours that will automatically create a warning, such as fighting. In other cases, it is simply bad behaviour, such as not starting a task.
You can list all the things that could result in a warning. But, you can be fair applying the warning system by always giving your child a warning that they are going to get a warning. They have at least one, perhaps two, opportunities to do the task and avoid the warning.
It will quickly have an effect!
Feature Pic By Odua Images
