In order for you to properly discipline unruly kids you have to first know what the main purpose of doing it is. What are you trying to accomplish? It can’t be the wrong thing such as the following:
Trying to make your kids afraid of you
When you try to make your kids afraid of you all this will end up accomplishing is having them hate you and resent you. You don’t want this. You want your kids to respect your authority because you have their best interests at heart. Fear should never be the goal.
Trying to get them to act as robots
Kids are going to be kids. Sometimes they’ll act up because they’ll have so much energy in their tanks. Let them use some of it up or find a way for them to use it so they can settle down. Never expect kids to act like robots just because this is what you’d feel comfortable with.
The goal when it comes to disciplining unruly kids is for you to instill in them the qualities that will have them grow into good teenagers and even better adults. You want to instill in your kids a strong sense of responsibility, respect as well as kindness. If you do these things then you’re doing your job as a parent. The key to accomplishing this is knowing how to exact discipline. Here are some simple ways it can be done:
Take away things you know they value
In this case the things they value are going to focus on things they spend the most time doing or enjoying. When you do this you’ll be met with resistance. So always explain why you’re doing it and what you expect of them in order for them to get whatever you’ve taken from them back.. This sends a very strong message. Teenagers are no different. In most cases if you take away their allowance and access to certain electronics they’ll get the picture.
Have a way to isolate them from other siblings
This works well when a kid is misbehaving at home. You’d want to put them in a time out or put them somewhere where they wouldn’t have any contact with other kids. The only time they’d be allowed to come out is once they apologized for their bad behavior. The purpose here again is to set boundaries. Some kids are going to really give you a rough time, but if you hold firm you’d be surprised at how well this works.
We know from experience that some kids are really far gone as far as being unruly goes and these simple tips mentioned above probably won’t work much for them. If this is the case you might want to consider extreme measures such as going to counseling to see if anything is wrong with your kid. They might need the chance to open up about why they act the way they do in a way where they feel they won’t be attacked for it. For instance, a lot of kids act out because they want attention and feel neglected.
