How I discipline my child..

I started giving my 21 month-old son a timeout when he’s doing something bad (like throwing his food away, hitting my head with a toy). I know that this kind of discipline will make him realize that there’s a limit for everything and anything bad he will commit, there will be a corresponding price. As much as possible we are avoiding to slap or hit him in any part of his body as what I’ve seen most in our old fashioned Philippine culture in raising a child (whacking by belt, hitting by hunger or slipper),which in our defense, we called it “discipline”. You might apply what we’re using in your child because this will not hurt your kids physically but will surely keep them off their limits. This is how it goes, once he did a bad move, I will give him a warning by saying “stop it, or you will go to the corner (or your corner)!” . In one spot of our house (which is a corner in the living room) we designated a place especially for him, boring, no-toys, safe, well-lighted, wide and most of all visible to us. If he didn’t stop despite of my warning, I will put him on that spot and making him familiarize that where he’s standing at is his corner. When he tried to walk or go away, I will carry him and place him back with an authoritative voice of saying “stay there!” :) In our surprise, he really stayed there for as long as we wanted him to stay. He kept on crying but he’s not going away from his corner. We made him believe that he was being ignored but the truth is, at the side of my eyes, I can see his helpless cry. I pity him so much but I’m fighting my emotions for his own good. For toddlers, according to some researches, they can stay one minute per year of age. After 2 minutes, I called him and he immediately go towards me, still crying. I asked him to kiss me and say sorry for what he did was wrong. I tried to explain to him in the best way I can the reason of the punishment. Even though he doesn’t know my words yet (he’s under 2 yrs old), I still told him his faults and about the corner (sometimes, we show him the thing that he used in his bad behavior). For us, it’s a success! From there on, every time that I’m giving the warning, he listens. By the way, we learned this practice from our friends (Maybel and Jeremy) who also have a toddler and from the TV show super nanny. Try it! I believe it’s the best way of discipline. Good luck!!! Remember, every child is God’s gift to us, we should be grateful!