“It takes a whole village to raise a child” is an ancient African proverb which rings true even today. This saying sits well with residents of any society, may they be hunter-gatherer societies or the extremely mechanized urban societies of the modern age.

One perplexing question faced by our society has been “How to get your kids to behave?”

Usually children are disciplined by making them go through a series of punishments that have the potential to erode the influence that you exercise over your kids. Another way is to raise a moral and responsible child without using punishment at all.

Let us then discuss the latter technique briefly to extract some useful conclusion from it.

Raising a Moral Child sans Punishment

As has been mentioned earlier, punishing a child would make them more rebellious.

Punishment is not a good option when dealing with children because it involves forcing the child’s hand to make them dance to your tunes.

On the other hand, the process of guidance requires showing our kids the right path and giving them reasons as to why it is the best path for them to take.

Humans are programmed to resist unnecessary force and are more receptive to positive influences because it helps them decide things on their own.

There are other ways apart from punishment in which a child can be raised to become a responsible adult. Some suggestions are as follows:

Setting Limits

Setting limits is important when you are guiding your kids about exhibiting good behavior. This guidance process requires as much patience as it requires skill.

Don’t try to set behavioral limits by force because it would make the kids resist your advances.

Connecting on a Different Level

When kids feel disconnected from their parents, they are more likely to act out of place. Disconnection also reduces your influence over them.

The next time you see your child feeling angry or upset, go ahead and talk to them about what’s bothering them.

You would also find out that children are more receptive to you when you have made a meaningful connection with them.

Discussion

Children learn from their experience and the experience of others. It is only natural for kids to reflect upon the information that they collect throughout the day and come up with their own conclusion.

As a parent, you should provide your kids to experience new things every day and make some sort of sense out of them. This also involves a lot of talking and listening to your child. Having a chat with them at the right time ensures that problems don’t get out of hand.

Learning from Example

Children are more likely to learn their values and behavior by looking at what their parents are “doing” instead of what they are “saying”. This is an age-old technique that never gets old. In other words, it’s called leading by example.

Compassion and Empathy

While looking at ways as how to discipline your child, you would learn that treating your children with compassion and empathy is a good way to teach your kids good behavior without opting for punishment.

When your response to kids is calm in different situations, they would try to deal with their siblings in a similar way. This would also make kids to start treating others well because they are aware of the benefits of doing so.

If you use these few methods with kids on a daily basis, you’ll notice great changes in their personalities after some time.

Believe it when someone tells you that kids cooperate more when punishment is out of the mix. Try it out for yourself and see how well it works for you.