My Preschooler Discipline Strategy

Have you ever noticed that the four-year old has a mind of his own? It doesn’t matter what you, as the parent, tell him to do – he does the extreme opposite? This can be extremely frustrating for the parent or caregiver,  especially if it is a regular occurrence.

Lately disciplining my 3 ½ year-old son has become a battle of wills – his almost 4-year-old will and mine. Erik is a very strong willed child and he and I often butt heads when it comes to his behavior.

A four-minute time out is often stretched to 15-minute intervals.

Our typical day is very relaxed and easy going except when he does something he is not allowed to be doing. For example Erik enjoys playing in the water. He enjoys helping me wash the dishes except he will wash everything he can get his hands on. I don’t want to deter the child from helping but there is a time and a place for it.

Today, after being warned numerous times not to play in the water, I found him playing in the sink. This time he had grabbed his toothpaste container and squeezed it into the sink. Yes, I was angry! Yes I yelled.

Once I calmed down I told him to get into his timeout zone, a chair in the corner of our family room.

He doesn’t usually obey me right away so I will warn him to stop doing the forbidden act. I will count to five and if he continues then he goes into the time out zone.

Once he is in time out, I set the timer for four minutes. Time out is usually a fight with him – he doesn’t realize that if he would just sit in time out and do his time it would go a lot easier for him. Instead he kicks, and screams and carries on so the time out that was intended to be four minutes turns into eight, twelve or even sixteen minutes.

He has days where he’ll obediently sit in time out and do his time. Those days are coming more frequently and hopefully the days of the tantrums will become non existent. Until then, I must remain consistent about the behavior that I will and will not accept.

Related posts:

1. Sleep Strategy for Twins
2. An Effective Strategy for Daily Coping
3. Preschooler Story Stretchers for Animal Dads
4. Spanking As Discipline
5. Discipline and Your Grandchildren