Parenting From The Source

The hardest part of discipline is being consistent. See my previous article Consistency in Discipline and my confession in Comments. Teaching Obedience I heard a story about a parent trying to get her eighteen-month-old son to stay off the floor she was mopping. The easiest way to do that would have been to put him in [...]

In my last post, I wrote about first-time obedience with older children. I said, “Consequences for disobedience must be delivered every time.” That sounds great, but I hear from parents all the time that they cannot find a punishment that works with their older children. Consequences for disobedience must meet two criteria.

First-time obedience is harder if a child is several years old and accustomed to waiting for his parents to repeat their instructions or correction several times. There were times I let my children slip into the habit of ignoring me the first few times, and it was hard to get back on track.

First time obedience is a sometimes controversial subject, perhaps because it takes discipline on the part of parents to enforce it. Why First-time Obedience Is Important For reasons why it’s important, see my article in the Hale Center Insider.   http://www.sallyandterrywright.com/Story01-31-12_CAROLE_BELL_3REASONS.php. There’s another reason why it’s essential. If children have been trained to respond the first time [...]