Parents need some discipline

We’ve all been there: you’re sitting at a restaurant enjoying your dinner, and all of a sudden you hear a scream from the 6 year old across the room. Everyone looks over to make sure she is okay, but it doesn’t look like she is hurt anywhere. She screamed because she did not get her own way with something, and you watch as her parents do nothing.

It really frustrates me when parents just allow their kids to do whatever they feel like doing whenever they feel like doing it. I watch Johnny Runnynose climb on the chair and throw crayons around the room, and his parents think that if they just ignore him he will stop eventually.

I want to know what ever happened to good parenting. I know it is still out there, but as I am getting older I see more and more parents that do not discipline their kids anymore. Even just a “Johnny, please quiet down because people are trying to eat” would suffice.

On the other hand, there are parents who discipline their children way too excessively; so much so that it becomes ineffective. I have seen parents who yell and fuss about whatever it is their child is doing over and over again. When this happens, I see that the children try to tune the parents out, just to get a moment of peace.

I work at a preschool and I have a lot of experience with children. I can tell how a child is going to behave in the classroom once I see how they interact with their parents. Some parents will come in, set their kid loose, and walk out; these are the children that are usually the worst behaved for me. Other parents will come in, help their kid unpack all of their stuff, let us know how their morning has been so far, and give their kid a kiss goodbye; these are the children that are typically the best behaved for me.

My point is that parents should have a happy medium when it comes to disciplining their kids. Too much discipline is just as ineffective as not disciplining enough. It is important to understand that discipline is meant to help a child learn what is right and wrong, and this strategy of teaching them this should not be taken advantage of.