Discipline NOW! is my strategy! As good as I wanna think Chloe is – she can be a brat at times. In fact – she can be pretty sassy – and tell you stuff like ” Oh no! you don’t !” when we threatened to take away something from her if she was misbehaving. At other times, she can be so rough – she can caused us a joint pain if we ain’t careful – because she is all over us and wants to be piggy backed or carried.
We take the coach approach with Chloe with what and how she can help us or her friends reach their goals. When something happened – whether in school or in a playgroup – we listen first and empathize – we do not interrupt her and after she have had enough of whining about it – we ask her “what could she do differently the next time?” – our goal is to help her learn from mistakes she made this time so she can do better the next time. But of course, it’s easier said than done – because she never wants to be wrong – so we have to use our words carefully.
But discipline is never easy, so whenever Chloe makes a mistake, we try to give her a second chance and explain what she has done wrong and remind her of the behavior we’d like to see. And of course, as parents – you have to give credit when credit is due – so don’t forget to pat her on her shoulder now – when she does it right. Cause and effect – is what we teach Chloe. Instead of revoking tv time in the night because she is late for school – we move our tv time earlier – that way it’s a win-win situation and the best consequences are the ones whereby Chloe learns something from it.