Young children who are punished in a wrong way are often the ones who need the most social and academic support — and they end up missing opportunities to get it. Whatever your child's age, it's important to be consistent when it comes to discipline. It’s a belief repeated every day by teachers, principals and parents of rule-abiding children: Suspending disruptive students will allow the rest of the class to settle down and learn. But a new, large study calls this rationale into question.
The relationship was inverse: The higher the number of suspensions during the course of a semester, the lower the non-suspended students’ scores on end-of-semester reading and math evaluations, said Brea L. Perry, a sociologist at Indiana University and co-author of the study with Edward W. Morris, a sociologist at the University of Kentucky. The study, which was published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal American Sociological Review, involved students in 17 middle schools and high schools in a Kentucky school district.
If parents don't stick to the rules and consequences they set up, their kids aren't likely to either. There is no "one way" to correct behaviour. Parents need the freedom to learn about themselves and their children through the correction choices they make.
Punishing children who misbehave is not an easy or welcome task for parents. Kids Health encourages parents to maintain a consistent discipline plan in order to promote good behaviour in their children. The type of punishment and consequences will vary according to the age of the child, says Kids Health, but there are some key advantages that apply to children of any age.
Many parents realize that what they're doing to correct behaviour isn't working but keep doing it because they don't know what else to do. Understand that suspension is not the solution. Findings suggest that high levels of suspensions “can have a very negative effect on those so-called ‘good apples,’ or rule-abiding students,” said Perry.
So what else can you try? It's been proven over and over again that the key to helping a child learn about herself and the world around her is to use boundaries. Boundaries are the touchstone that helps bring a child through an experience. Boundaries help children understand what they are supposed to do, instead of what they've done. Here are two methods that use boundaries to help kids learn better behaviour
Start by making amends. Young children learn best by seeing the correlation between a mistake and fixing the mistake. Taking privileges or things away usually causes a big reaction and causes a child to promote the parent anything in order to get a game back. No discovery, understanding, or learning has really taken place. (One exception: if taking things away is working for your child, then keep doing that.)
Secondly, give your child some time. Daily life can sometimes get in the way of teaching a child about behaviour. Things like being busy with another child, being too angry at the moment, or having no idea how you want to handle things. When that happens, let time, work for you. Give your child some time to think upon his mistakes. Talk only when he's ready to.
Sources:
⦁ http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/discipline.html
⦁ https://www.popsugar.com/moms/Wrong-Way-Punish-Kids-27333392
⦁ https://www.livestrong.com/article/129582-advantages-punishing-children-bad-behavior/
⦁ https://edsource.org/2015/study-suspensions-harm-well-behaved-kids/72501