Child Discipline - Be Consistent With Your Child

The biggest complaint you hear from parents about their children is "they don't listen to me and I have tried everything"

Then when you start talking, you find out that parents give in at the end because it is just too exhausting to be consistent.

For example--you want your child to go to bed at a certain time. Instead of sticking to that time and being consistent, your child starts begging or screaming or taking a fit to stay up later and you give in. What you need to do is just stick to the time for a short while and your child will adapt after 4 or 5 times.

I have an example again today from someone who has a 14 year old teenage girl. She lost her cell phone, and they still had another year on their contract. Her mother didn't have the insurance on the phone. Now her daughter wanted a new cell phone. Well the cheapest cell phone to buy without a contract with Verizon Wireless was an ugly bulky phone for $129.00. But her daughter kept bugging her to get a new phone. Her mother had a flip phone from 2 years ago. The phone's battery was dead.

While she was at a Verizon Wireless store, the store actually had a battery that cost only $15 and she already had the charger. So for $15 her daughter had a cell phone but she was aggravated because she didn't get a new phone. Her mother decided that phone was good enough and didn't listen to her daughter's whining.

By the time her daughter got home, she was then okay with the cell phone, even if it was 2 years old. After all, the daughter lost the phone--she doesn't have the right to ask for a $200 phone when her older phone just needed a $15 battery pack. Her mother was consistent in saying "this is the phone you are keeping" and now that's the end of any arguing.

When you want some kind of change in a child's behavior, just remember stick to your guns with CONSISTENCY. It may take some work initially, but in the long run, you and your child will be much happier.

Copyright 2005 Fern Kuhn, RN - Specializing in Diabetes

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