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Single Parents: How To Discipline Your Child

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Parents can have their hands full when it comes to disciplining their children. In some respects, the single parent even has it much tougher because they have no support system of another adult to back them up on their discipline and punishment decisions. In either case, adults need to establish acceptable standards of behavior and provide rewards. You must also determine what is not acceptable and needs disciplining. Whether you are raising just one child or three, you must be aware that toddlers, tweens and teenagers need different sets of rules and types of discipline to be effective. These suggestions may help you to discipline and set the ground rules.

Establishing Rules

No matter what age a child is, it is up to you as the parent to establish the rules. Rules can vary according to the age of the child, but you need to talk to your children and explain that there are certain rules that must be followed. They need to understand the purpose for the rule and that breaking the rules can result in consequences or discipline.

For each child, you should set rules that match their age. A young child may be responsible for cleaning their room each weekend. Tweens may be in charge of cleaning, maintaining and locking up their bicycle. Teenagers may be restricted to certain amounts of cell phone talk time or computer usage.

Consequences

You can try your hardest to explain that rules need to be followed, but sometimes children have to learn the hard way. The toddler that refuses to pick up their toys may find out that their favorite doll is ruined after leaving it out in the rain.

Your teenager that refused to maintain his car may find it no longer runs the week of homecoming. These are tough lessons.

Disciplining

Children need disciplining when they do not follow rules or maintain acceptable behavior. The best way to discipline a child is by identifying what is important to them and withholding those privileges. For example, tweens may lose TV viewing rights for a week if they fail to cut the grass. Your toddler may not get to wear her favorite outfit for two weeks after throwing a fit in the grocery store.

Considerations

Before thinking about disciplining, make sure your child understands what you are asking of him or her. Consider whether you are demanding too much for their age and maturity.

Once the ground rules are set, and you are comfortable that everyone understands them, stick to your decisions. Waffling back and forth or changing your mind about discipline confuses children and makes it hard to get respect.

A single parent has a lot on their plate, and it is easy to get tired and cranky. Stop and think before you discipline. In addition, too many rules can be overwhelming to kids as well as nit picking for things that just don’t matter!

As a single parent, setting firm rules and responding to children consistently helps them to understand, grow and develop. Whenever possible, encourage or reward your child for doing the right thing, but stand tough on discipline when needed.


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