Every parent aspires to raise his/her children in a disciplined way. It is not always easy to teach your child what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviours.
In majority of cases, it is common to see children throw tantrums at public places, skipping the school works due to extended play time and so on. Every time one of the parents have to be with the child to complete the task. If not monitored properly, the children are left with heavy work load. So, it is important to teach children self-disciplinary skills in five ways right at the young age. Self-discipline is nothing but completing of the chores without being told by others.
1. Explain yourself
Before setting any rule explain it to your child why it is to be followed and the consequences of it. Every task must be explained well so that the child does it whole-heartedly and not for the sake of it. For instance, explain to your child why homework or school work needs to be done first over watching television. Try to seek answers from the child.
2. Set realistic and achievable goals
As a parent you might be in a hurry to complete your child’s task but make sure that you set realistic and achievable goals to complete the same. For instance, making them tie their shoe laces and keeping the books in their bags according to their timetable are some of the realistic and achievable goals. You can’t tell your child to get up at 5.00 am, if their bed time is late.
3. Model good behaviour
A child does something by observing and not hearing. The children imitate elder’s behaviour. Make sure that you behave appropriately for them to observe and model. For instance, do not give fake excuses to your bosses over the phone when you actually wasted a day.
4. Explain the consequences
It is difficult to complete all the tasks. Sometimes children may give excuses to avoid the tasks. If you find that the reasons are bizarre, then you must explain to the child the consequences of not doing a particular task.
5. Use rewards
Every human being needs motivation to achieve the goals. In case of children parents can use rewards in terms of stars, token and so on. Avoid giving chocolates, junk food and the like as rewards as it may adversely affect your child’s health. Set limited rewards so that your child does the task first and later expects a reward and not vice-versa. For instance, the task like folding the clothes and keeping it inside the cupboard is a simple task, and therefore the child must complete the task for seven days of the week. If the child performs these seven days of the week, only then the reward is given. Avoid announcing the reward before starting the task. Further, you can take your child for outing to amusement park, however make sure that they have seven stars or tokens before that to get this big reward. Most importantly, don’t forget to praise their good behaviour.
To conclude, disciplining your child requires you to be disciplined too and it is definitely hard work. However, the hard work you put in during your child’s young age is all worth it when you see them grow into a self-responsible individual.
