Parenting Information

Disciplining the Wild Child


Do you have a wild child? Then this article may be for you. Do you just blow up when you can't take it any more? Then this article is definitely for you.

Abuse victims, when they become parents, are handicapped in two ways. One, they have no clue how to give good discipline because they never saw it done. A parent who knows how does not resort to abuse. Or, I should say, a parent who knows how deep in his/her bones, not just intellectually, does not need to resort to abuse. So if you were beaten, humiliated, yelled at, ignored, neglected, abandoned, criticized, or any of the hundred other ways of being abused, you never saw good discipline in action. So you just don't know what it looks like.

Now, suppose you take a parenting course. Here's handicap #2. Even when you learn--intellectually--what it is, many parents who have been abused have a gut-level abhorence of anything that remotely looks like violence. Any form of discipline that is perfectly "kosher" may look to an abuse victim like something harsh, mean, and hateful. And those parents just can't seem to put it into action. That's when the leniency paves the way for the very abuse they don't ever want to be guity of doing: Because they have failed to discipline their child, the child, of course, gets out of hand, eventually. That's what normal children do, if unstopped. So then, these sweet, lovely parents who couldn't bring themselves to discipline their child lash out at them angrily. And they actually feel justified! "I've had enough!" They exclaim.

Well, that's true, but whose fault is that? You've had enough because you didn't nip it in the bud with proper discipline. Now you criticize or yell or hit or whatever and actually think that the child is "bad." Hey, that's exactly the mistake your parents might have made. So if this sounds like you, don't confuse proper discipline with abuse. Start the discipline and then you won't have to blow up.

For example, I once worked with a family in which the mother felt so guilty about a remarriage and so abhorent of abuse because of the abuse she had received that she also never would discipline that child. Until one day she discovered that, at 14, her daughter was sneaking out the window at night to go party. Then, as you can imagine, she lost it.

If you're not clear what discipline is, read the article on it. click here. But don't run away from it or it'll only get worse.

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn, Ph.D.
Marriage and Family Therapist
http://www.abuse-recovery-and-marriage-counseling.com

  


MORE RESOURCES:

Us Magazine

Charlize Theron on parenting son Jackson (minus her potty mouth)
Los Angeles Times (blog)
We've always loved Charlize Theron for her sleek blond beauty. And the way she talks like a sailor. Think of her beautifully executed turn as Mavis Gary, the foul-mouthed lead of last year's "Young Adult." While Charlize isn't actually evil, ...
Charlize Theron Not Too Hard On Herself As A New MomMTV.com

all 16 news articles »


'Facebook parenting' is destroying our children's privacy
CNN
Editor's note: Aisha Sultan is a parenting columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and recent Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. Follow her on Twitter: @AishaS. Jon Miller is director of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth in ...

and more »


The parallel universe of parenting
Fremont Tribune
One, is that parenting baby ducks is a difficult task. And two, some parents are better (or luckier) than others. Case in point is the current crop of ducklings that call this small, old sandpit home. The first batch that we noticed was a darker, ...



PsychCentral.com

Parenting Tips: Yelling vs. Choices
Eastern Arizona Courier
If you yell on occasion, you won't damage your kids, but still, it is not a good parenting strategy for creating good behavior. A screaming adult can activate a child's fight-or-flight response, which in turn shuts down his ability to think something ...
Respectful Child Discipline Starts with the ParentPsychCentral.com (blog)

all 2 news articles »


National Post

Apodaca: Don't listen to parenting naysayers
Daily Pilot
The photo was a provocative lead-in for an article on the latest controversy over the issue of child rearing, the practice of what's called attachment parenting. Now the subject is all over the news, providing fodder for talk shows, ...
Crying over (breast)milk: Muddling through in spite of the mothering absolutistsNational Post
Attached at the NipPatch.com

all 3 news articles »


Positive parenting – raising children into successful adults
DI-VE
by di-ve.com - editorial@di-ve.com Parenting techniques based on love, encouragement and discipline are more likely to encourage children grow up secure, disciplined, well-behaved and with high self-esteem than criticising them and using incorrect ...

and more »


Parenting group bans unvaccinated adults
msnbc.com (blog)
By Diane Mapes The recent whooping cough (pertussis) epidemic in Washington state has prompted the parent support group PEPS to issue a new policy regarding participation in their groups. "Because of the pertussis epidemic in Washington, ...

and more »


TabTimes

This week in tablets: For devices, publishing and even parenting, simplicity ...
TabTimes
by George Jones May 26 2012, 1:10 am Comment Also inside: Cisco bids sayonara to the Cius, and Yahoo does the same with LiveStand. Validation for tablet devices, users, and developers came this week across multiple categories, industries and lifestyles ...

and more »


Quigg: Much of parenting is reactive
Herald & Review
Some of parenting is proactive: planning ahead, laying out positive expectations and being ready with knowledge and resources. But much of parenting is reactive: helping our children learn to deal successfully with whatever comes their way.



Judges rarely meet young in parenting disputes, says study
Katherine Times
In New Zealand, 65 per cent of Family Court judges said they often, very often or always met a child who was the subject of a parenting dispute. Dr Fernando said Australia was lagging behind other countries in attitudes to children meeting with judges.

and more »

Google News

Article List | Index | Site Map
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved.