Durrant – introduction Positive Discipline

The positive discipline program has three primary aims. One is to provide an answer to the question if I can’t spank my child then what do I do? This seems to be a question that is common around the world and many people have a difficult time articulating what that response could be. Another aim is to provide an effective constructive alternative to hitting and yelling and to punishment in general so we want parents to really go away with actual tools and skills that they can use in situations of conflict and when they’re feeling really emotional, frustrated and angry, which of course happens in parents daily lives and we also wanted to provide an explanation of what children’s rights really means.  

When we talk about children’s rights in relation to discipline, often parents think that what we’re saying is well they have the right to do whatever they want to do or we let them do whatever they want to do but that’s not at all what we need. Children’s rights in the context of discipline really means protecting them from violence and humiliation so making sure that we uphold their rights to dignity and physical integrity, and also their rights to voice their views so positive discipline is really centered around understanding the child’s perspective and when we do that then we’re much more likely respond in a way that makes sense to them, that they see is fair and that actually helps them to learn.