{"id":1100,"date":"2019-05-18T19:33:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T19:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2019-05-20T20:15:40","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T20:15:40","slug":"principle-based-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/2019\/05\/18\/principle-based-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"Principle-Based Discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Adapted from Millie Cawlfield\u2019s article \u201cBalanced Discipline\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Children are the \u201chope or our race.\u201d (Mary Baker Eddy, <i>Pulpit and Press<\/i>, p. 9) No gift we give them is more important than good discipline. To discipline, in its truest sense, means to teach. If our work with our children results in our child\u2019s wanting and loving to do what is right, we are truly disciplining.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>Mary Kimball Morgan states in her article \u201cFoundational Trusts,\u201d \u201cIn childhood, it is very essential that right habits of thought become established\u2014honesty, truthfulness, unselfishness, industry, thoroughness, perseverance, loving-kindness, and all noble qualities which make for Christian character\u2026. Helping our children to love and express all that is pure and good requires us to keep very close to them and to seek divine wisdom constantly in our association with them.\u201d Good discipline teaches right concepts and helps develop self-confidence and dominion over erroneous temptations.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>Discipline should be a balance of principle and love. We love and understand our child so that he is free to be creative and gain confidence in the value of his own ideas and thoughts, but we also teach him obedience, self-discipline, and unselfed love. This discipline is neither authoritarian nor overly permissive. It takes thought and practice to establish this balanced sense of discipline, and we often tend to swing back and forth. But the closer we get to this goal, the more harmonious the results will be.<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>Here are some ideas to consider when disciplining:<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Get down on your child\u2019s level to talk eye-to-eye.<\/li>\n<li>When making demands or setting limits:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Ask yourself, \u201cAre these right demands based on Principle, not human will? Are they right for my child\u2019s present stage of development?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Be consistent in the demands made on the child.<\/li>\n<li>Give directions clearly and simply.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t ask the child a question when no choice is intended. Rather, use a positive tone in your voice:&nbsp; \u201cIt\u2019s time to go now,\u201d not \u201cAre you ready to go?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Provide genuine opportunities for the child to make choices. Abide by his decisions.<\/li>\n<li>State directions in the positive. \u201cOur feet walk in the house,\u201d rather than \u201cDon\u2019t run in the house!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Impersonalize the directions\u2014take \u201cyou\u201d out of them. \u201cIt\u2019s time to go to bed,\u201d rather than \u201cYou must go to bed now.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Make good appealing:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Be courteous when making a request of a child as you would be with a friend. Mrs. Morgan states, \u201cToo often one thinks a child needs no special consideration or courtesy shown him\u2026. A genuine courtesy toward children is true discipline and eliminates much of the punishment which is sometimes called discipline&#8221; (<i>Education at The Principia, <\/i>p. 50).<\/li>\n<li>Lay clothes out in a line for the child to put on. Then say, \u201cHere is a bell. I\u2019m putting it on the dresser, and when I hear it rung, I\u2019ll know you\u2019re all dressed.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Be willing to give the child help with jobs that seem overwhelming to him. The objective is to make the child love order, not force compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Redirect wrong actions.<\/li>\n<li>Follow through and make sure your child complies. Don\u2019t nurture self-will by giving in when confronted with crying or tantrums.<\/li>\n<li>To prevent problems, look for causes of misbehavior:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Ask yourself: \u201cShould I make changes in his environment? Put an irresistible &#8216;no no&#8217; out of reach? Install a gate? Close a bedroom door?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Plan ahead: Bring interesting toys on a long trip or to a friend\u2019s house or restaurant.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t make unnecessary demands at \u201ctouchy\u201d times in your child\u2019s day (when he\u2019s tired or right before dinner).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Give your child a good concept of himself by holding a true concept of him in your thought. Expect good.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adapted from Millie Cawlfield\u2019s article \u201cBalanced Discipline\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp; Children are the \u201chope or our race.\u201d (Mary Baker Eddy, Pulpit and Press, p. 9) No gift we give them is more important than good discipline. To discipline, in its truest sense, means to teach. If our work with our children results in our child\u2019s wanting and loving &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/2019\/05\/18\/principle-based-discipline\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Principle-Based Discipline&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-vault","category-spiritually-based"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3691,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions\/3691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/sites\/acorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}