Self Discipline

Help me to be responsible by myself.

Helping your child to learn how to take control of himself is one of the most challenging parts of being a parent. We all want to be able to go about our normal lives knowing that we can trust our child to behave and cope with different social situations. You can create the circumstances for your child to develop self-discipline by following three simple steps:

Create an environment that fosters self-discipline

Connect your child to the life going on around her through involving her in practical activities and offering her choices.

Make time for your child to be involved in activities around the home, whilst working at her own pace and respect her work and play choices.

Practical Activities

You may not relish doing the cleaning or washing the dishes but young children love to do these things. Getting involved in the life of the home helps them to start to feel part of the family and become aware that they are responsible for their actions.

Click on the links to find out how to involve your child in practical activities around the home.

Making Choices

When young children are allowed to make some choices for themselves they start to be able to think for themselves and this leads them to making choices about their own actions. Making choices about their own actions is the first step on the path to developing self discipline.

Click on the links to find out how to help your child to make choices.

Making Mistakes

We learn much more from the mistakes that we make than we do from the things that go well. This is particularly true for children who are in the process of gaining control over themselves.

Click on the links to find out how to respond when your child makes mistakes so that he can be comfortable learning from his errors and therefore learn to control himself.

Setting Limits

Children need to know what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do. Consistent limits help them to feel secure and give them a model for acceptable behaviour.

Click on the links to find out how to set the kind of predictable and consistent limits that will help your child develop self discipline.

Awareness of Behaviour

Very young children are not conscious of how they are behaving. They are not able to think about whether or not they should be doing something. As awareness starts to dawn for your child you can help him to start to become aware of how his actions impact others and this will help him to start to reflect on his behaviour.

Click on the links to find out how to help your child start to become aware of his own behaviour.