Responsible Discipline - The Family Cycle
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The fundamental goal of parenting are to teach and train a child to become a responsible and productive adult who acquires high character traits such as self-control, teachability, respectfulness, integrity, honesty, and competency. These traits do not come naturally to the infant, toddler or preschooler, but through the disciplinary process a child will acquire them to some degree. Discipline is defined as “training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.”[i] In the context of parenting, the discipline process is comprised of three primary components: instruction, encouragement, and correction.
To learn more about responsible discipline, read the following statements.
The following Patients Information Handouts contain practical advice on discipline for parents of young children:
[i] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000. Houghton Mifflin Company.