Dear Mr. Dad: You’ve talked about how futile it is to discipline an infant. That makes sense. But what about toddlers?
A: At one time or another, all parents struggle with discipline—establishing limits, enforcing limits, and getting their kids to speak to them respectfully and do what they’re supposed to do. But discipline isn’t only about correction. It’s also about teaching kids to control themselves and care about others so they can grow up to be productive members of society. I’ve put together a list of 22 approaches that will enable you to help your kids to do just that. Here are the first 10:
- Be firm. Set reasonable limits, explain them, and enforce them.
- Be consistent. Your child will learn to adapt to inconsistencies between you and your partner: if you allow jumping on the bed but she doesn’t, for example, the child will do it when he’s with you and won’t when he’s with your partner. However, if you allow jumping one day and prohibit it the next, you’ll only confuse your child and undermine your attempts to get him to listen when you ask him to do something.
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Photo by Bekah Russom on Unsplash
