How to Teach your Child Self-Discipline – 3 Useful Tips
We’ve all seen kids who constantly interrupt others, throw tantrums in the middle of a public events, or never seem to know how to wait their turn. To a great extent, the ability to control yourself depends on your developmental level. A child of three cannot be expected to have the self-control of an adult. Kids will be kids, of course, but the good news is, even those with the least amount of self-discipline can be taught to achieve it and respond to situations without acting on impulse. Learn more about teaching kids self-discipline.
How to Teach your Child Self-Discipline – The Benefits
Success in the classroom (and on the playground) depends largely on your child’s ability to pay attention, control his impulses, follow directions and stay motivated in the face of adverse circumstances. Self-discipline, therefore, plays an important role in academic achievement, or lack of it. Research has shown that kids who are better at self-regulation have bigger vocabularies and tend to do better in math and early literacy skills. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the ability to say ‘no’ when you really want to say ‘yes’ can help your child have a successful and fulfilling life.
And despite the findings of behavioral geneticists, parents and teachers can have a profound influence on the development of self-discipline in kids. Here’s how.
How to Teach your Child Self-Discipline – 3 Useful Tips
Be a role model - One of the most effective ways of teaching kids self-discipline would be to model the appropriate behavior yourself. If you tend to lose control frequently, your kids will do the same no matter how much you encourage them to do better. If they see you put off doing the dishes in favor of watching TV, it won’t be long before they pick on your behavior. Making healthy choices, managing anger and staying on task are skills that are best by setting an example.
Play self-control games - Any game that expects kids to play by a set of rules is encouraging them to achieve self-discipline. But some games are more challenging because they test your child’s ability to overcome ingrained habits, fight his impulses, and practice a greater amount of self-regulation. These learning games include folk games such as “Red Light, Green Light,” “The Freeze game” and “Conducting an Orchestra.” Studies show that these and similar games can have a significant positive impact on kids with below-average self-discipline, so there’s good reason to give them a shot.
Exercise appropriate parental control - This is important because your overall approach to child-rearing influences your child’s development of self-discipline. If you are too controlling or use harsh parenting tactics to enforce discipline, you are denying your child crucial opportunities to acquire self-control. Authoritarian parents who rely on punishment are more likely to have kids with childhood aggression and other behavioral problems.
Teaching kids self-discipline can never be easy even at the best of times. Use these 3 useful tips to make the process smoother for everyone in the family.
