As a parent, it can be difficult to know exactly how to deal with your child's unruly behavior. Various kinds of parenting discipline strategies exist that can help you handle an unruly child, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. Many parents are opposed to spanking and any other forms of physical punishment, so knowing the different types of discipline methods gives you a variety of tools to find out what works best with your child.
Natural Consequences
Natural consequences are the direct result of your child not following the rules that you give him. Allowing children to learn from natural consequences helps them see that their actions directly lead to undesireable results. Only use natural consequences when the result would not cause any type of harm or danger to your child. For example, allowing your child to play in the street and suffer the natural consequences would not be appropriate, but letting her break a toy in order to learn how to be soft and respectful with her toys would be.
Time Out
According to the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, time out should not be used as a punishment. Instead, use it as a discipline method that allows your child some time to calm down. Flared tempers may be the perfect situation that calls for timeout, such as when your child is yelling, throwing a temper tantrum or physically assaulting another child. Keep your composure and stay calm when sending a child to a timeout. Losing your cool makes this and other forms of discipline less effective. This method is particularly effective when multiple children are involved in altercations. Simply send children to separate rooms or chairs to cool off for a certain period of time.
Ignoring
Many times, children act out and misbehave simply because they are looking for attention. In these situations, the best form of discipline may actually be ignoring the bad behavior. As long as it is not hurting anyone else or hurting someone's property, ignoring the behavior might be most effective way to get the child to stop. This method proves especially effective for dealing with over-the-top behavior. In contrast, you should shower kids with extra attention when they behave well, thus reinforcing and encouraging good behavior.
Witholding Privileges
Kids are motivated by what they want. If you know something that the child wants, like TV time, a favorite toy or a game, inform the child that you withhold that privilege if he doesn't meet your terms. For example, a child may lose a certain amount of time on the computer or in front of the TV for each bad word said or for not cleaning his room a certain number of days in a row. Avoid using the withholding method to discourage wholesome activities like exercise, eating healthy foods or doing anything that would contribute to your child's education, such as reading or studying.
