Discipline; is synonymous with a regular life. It is used in the sense of teaching and care that will enable the child to gain competence, self-control and empathy. Discipline is a way of life whose rules are determined. The purpose of the discipline; Relationships within the family have a great importance in gaining the desired behavior in the child. One of the important factors for children to acquire positive behaviors and develop as healthy individuals is parental discipline practices.
The purpose of discipline is to teach the child the value of the basic rules that must be followed in order to survive in the world over time. So much so that the individual will continue to follow the same rules even when the parents are not with him. Despite these positive qualities, discipline is one of the most difficult tasks that parents have to fulfill.
What Affects Parents’ Disciplinary Practice?
Child’s behavior
Child’s age and gender
Parent’s age, education level
Parent’s disciplinary practices as a child
The culture of the society in which they live
Social environment
Parents’ Disciplinary Practices
Positive Approach: The methods applied for repetition and reinforcement of desired behaviors in children are expressed as “positive approach”. However, this approach does not yield results in the short term and requires consistency and patience.
Negative Approach: It expresses the discipline methods applied in the face of undesired behavior in children. Among these methods; Although negative reactions such as punishment, criticism and bribery seem to be effective in the short term, the results of these punishment methods can damage the child’s self-esteem and draw attention to the unwanted behavior in the child, causing the reinforcement and emergence of negative behaviors. Negative parental approaches create negative feelings such as insecurity, irresponsibility, and hostility in children, and cause children to behave negatively when there is no authority.
The concepts of “discipline” and “punishment” are often perceived similarly. However; Discipline refers to all of the methods used to create behavior change. Verbal, physical and psychological punishments constitute violent disciplinary techniques. Discipline teaches knowledge and skill, in this sense it is very different from punishment. When parents inflict corporal punishment on their children, they are most likely out of control. In fact, it is not possible to say that physical punishment does not eliminate unwanted behavior. This is a form of behavioral conditioning, but it is a technique that is extremely painful and causes negative emotions. This method will work if the goal is to show the child who is stronger and prevent them from doing the behavior. However, if the aim is to teach the child to distinguish right from wrong, this method is useless.
Sometimes the child’s negative and maladaptive behaviors continue, even though the parents try everything. Such situations may indicate that your child has a developmental, biological or psychological problem.
In order to distinguish and detect these problems, with the support of a specialist, a psychiatrist, the child’s problem can be helped with highly reliable tests that can be applied one-on-one with the child or the mother.
