Discipline vs. Punishment

Tonight I have been reading in your e-book about discipline vs. punishment. Do you have any more material on both of these? As I understand your idea, if I give my son a consequence for his action and he does it anyway, I then enforce the stated consequence - that seems like punishment to me. What am I not understanding?

Thanks, D.

______________


Great question D.,

--> Punishment is what parents do when they are angry with their child and want some form of revenge.
--> Discipline is what parents do when they help their child learn to make better choices.

--> Punishment is about parents trying to win a power struggle with their child.
--> Discipline is refusing to engage in a power struggle by calmly issuing a consequence as a learning tool with no ulterior motives.

--> Punishment is based on pride and ego.
--> Discipline is based on love and caring.

--> Punishment is NOT instructive.
--> Discipline is instructive.

Does this make sense?

Mark

==> My Out-of-Control Teen: Help for Parents

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