Positive Discipline with Young Children

1. Positive Discipline with Young Children An Overview of How to Encourage Positive Behavior

2. The Three Legged Stool • Elizabeth Crary, author of Without Spanking or Spoiling, describes these three “legs” of the positive discipline “stool” which parents need to incorporate in guiding their children: • Developmental Expectations: What to expect for the age and developmental stage of the child. • Temperament: How to approach the individual child depending on their nine temperament traits. • Family Values: What you think is most important for your child to learn as they enter into the world.

3. Positive Discipline Starts with Understanding Children’s Development • Children are developmentally different from adults and have progressive stages of growth and development. • Children have goals for all their behavior such as: belonging, acceptance, attention, and power. • Understanding a child’s development promotes patience and positive outcomes for the parent or guardian.

4. Developmental Stages of Young Children • Infants: Seeking trust and comfort from the adults; seeking attachment with the primary caregivers; rapid growth • Toddlers: Seeking independence from the adults physically and emotionally; ambivalent about being independent; very busy observing and testing how the world works; sees the world only from their point of view; onset of language • Preschoolers: Seeking more independence and social power; interacting with peers more; rise of imagination and other cognitive skills; self-help skills developed

5. Understanding Temperament • Children are born with temperament traits unique to them individually. These can be observed within hours of birth. • Temperament affects a child’s behavior and a parent’s behavior. • Discipline is more effective if it addresses a child’s temperament traits.

6. Typical Temperament Traits • Sensitivity: Physical Reaction to Senses • Intensity: Strength of Emotional Reactions • Energy/Activity Level: Necessity for Movement • Adaptability: Ability to Adapt to Changes and Transitions • First Reaction: Reaction to New Situations, Ideas, Activities, Places or People • Persistence: Determination to Achieve Goals • Regularity: Predictability of Bodily Functions • Mood: Overall Disposition • Perceptiveness/Distractibility: Observation of Environment

7. Temperament Clusters • Easy Child: Predictable biological rhythms; positive mood; positive response to new situations; adapt easily; mild to moderate intensity; flexible • Slow to Warm Up Child: Negative first response; slow to adapt; may have mild to moderate intensity unless pushed to adapt to quickly • More Challenging Child: Irregular biological rhythms; negative first reaction; difficulty adapting; moody; intense emotional reactions; highly sensitive

8. Guiding Behavior with Temperament in Mind • Parenting the slow to warmup or more challenging child can take extra thought and understanding. By keeping temperament in mind, a parent can adapt guidance methods to support the child’s learning. An example: Allowing more time and more warning for transitions between activities for the slow to warm up or challenging child. • The next chart gives you some ideas of how to tailor your guidance to your child’s temperament.

11. Summary of Positive Discipline • You have reviewed two of the three “legs” of the positive discipline stool: 1) child developmental stage and 2) temperament. We will explore 3) family values in our next weekly session. • Next you will learn about your child’s behavior goals and your parenting style. Please close this page to continue with the ECFE Positive Discipline class content.