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Ignoring, distraction, time-out, and delay or restriction of privileges are examples of negative consequences. It is a good idea to try ignoring or distracting your child as potential consequences. If these do not work or are not possible, think about the common sense consequences related to the misbehavior.
There are two types of consequences: positive (sometimes called pleasant) and negative (sometimes called aversive). These can be added to or taken away from the environment in order to change the probability of a given response occurring again.
Research has shown that there are four main types of consequences of behavior. These are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.
Be calm, firm and direct
Be calm, clear and direct when explaining consequences. Therefore, the purpose of explaining consequences is to give the child information so he or she can recognize the opportunity to change inappropriate behavior as well as understand the implications of the consequences to be imposed.
They are immediate, degree/size, consistent, important, and varied. These five components help parents give consequences that reduce bad behavior. There is a difference between consequences and punishments. Typically, when parents give a “consequence,” they are giving a punishment.
Preschoolers (4-5 years)
Use the same consequences you did in their toddler years, says Arquette, in addition to taking away toys or privileges for a short time. “For example, if your child is fighting over a toy, then put the toy in timeout for 20 minutes.
Logical consequences are the natural outcomes that result from a child’s actions with others or property. Following through on logical consequences means that the adult guides the child to take responsibility for any harm caused or damage done. The intent is to teach your child that every action has a reaction.
“Around ages 5 to 7 is when kids truly start to understand the consequences of their actions,” says Brownrigg. “So if a 3-year-old hits someone with a toy, I might take it away and give them a time-out to calm them down. But I won’t tell them to think about what they did, because they can’t understand that.
Imposed consequences feel like a punishment to a child because it is a punishment. … Children need to feel helped, cared for and supported as they learn from mistakes. Imposing consequences breaks down the warm caring support and leaves the child with a lot of resentment towards their parent.
Positive consequences (or rewards) are things your child likes and enjoys. When used correctly, a positive consequence will increase the frequency of positive behavior. If you only give negative consequences or punishments, you run the risk of becoming a negative consequence yourself.
Discipline | Branch Examples |
---|---|
Business | Accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing |
Humanities | Art, history, languages, literature, music, philosophy, religion, theater |
Natural and applied sciences | Biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, medicine |
For example, when you are teaching students to raise their hand to answer a question, you can give them a piece of candy or a high five when they do so. The positive consequence of a candy or high five will reinforce the positive behavior of raising their hand after they answer a question.
Natural consequences are outcomes that happen as a result of behavior that are not planned or controlled (Pryor & Tollerud, 1999). For example, if a student cuts in front of another student in line, the natural consequence may be that the other child won’t play with the “cutter” at recess.
A What IF? Chart lists a preplanned hierarchy of reductive consequences on the right hand side, along with how much or how long each consequence will be used. The reductive consequences increase in severity as they go down the hierarchy on the chart.
When kids don’t have consequences for their actions, they feel they can do whatever they want. It doesn’t matter if they do something wrong because nothing happens. There is no punishment or action that tells the child, what you just did is unacceptable.
A consequence is the result or direct effect of an action. The goal for giving consequences is to teach a lesson that leads the child to make positive choices. … Punishment is defined by Merriam-Webster as “suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution.” The goal is to inflict hurt, pain and to get even.
the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier: The accident was the consequence of reckless driving. an act or instance of following something as an effect, result, or outcome. the conclusion reached by a line of reasoning; inference. importance or significance: a matter of no consequence.
Punitive describes inflicting a punishment. … An easy way to remember the meaning of punitive is that it looks like the word punish — both come from the Latin root word punire, “to inflict a penalty on.” Punitive doesn’t always refer to a person-to-person punishment, like a mom disciplining a child.
Natural consequences are those things that happen in response to your child’s behavior without parental involvement. These are imposed by nature, society, or another person. … Instead, you allow nature or society to impose the consequence on your child by not interfering.
Unrelated consequences:
These give kids an opportunity to think about what they’ve done. They can include ‘time out’ or ‘loss of privilege’ suitable for their age and in proportion to their behaviour. For example, if your 8 year old child hits your 6 year old child, you may put them in time out as a consequence.