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Few parenting challenges are as daunting as disciplining your child. It’s not just your child鈥檚 behavior that you must correct and steer through childhood’s many ups and downs. As the parent, you have to manage your child in the face of what can feel like an avalanche of opinions from know-it-all parents, judgy relatives, and even well-meaning teachers. In the most challenging moments, a parent’s very human reaction to the pressure of raising a “good child” can be anger in the form of yelling, removing privileges, time-outs, and grounding as they get older.

Is this really what parents signed up for? Where’s the joy, the family fun, the harmonious family dinners, the conflict-free vacations?

Positive discipline — a distinctly different form of parenting based on mutual respect and clear communication — fosters confident, competent, and respectful children. When practicing positive discipline, the goal is to raise a child who responds not out of fear or anger but from a place of self-agency and self-control.

Positive discipline can take more time and patience in the short-term as you and your child talk and work through solutions to behavioral challenges. But in the long-term, this parenting approach pays off with a child who takes responsibility for their actions, knows how to problem-solve, and treats themselves and others with empathy and kindness.

Positive discipline is more of a philosophy than a strict practice. It favors teaching constructive behaviors rather than punishing challenging ones. It asks parents and other caregivers to communicate effectively, set clear boundaries, and use empathy to address misbehavior.

The core concepts of positive discipline

With positive discipline, you鈥檙e teaching your child in a supportive environment that their actions and behavior have consequences — and that those consequences can be either negative or positive.

For example, explaining that if they take turns playing with a ball and have a strife-free playdate, that’s positive. If they grab a ball from a friend’s hands and their friend cries, that’s negative.

This teaches children not just to follow rules but also to understand the importance of their actions.

Key concepts of practicing positive discipline:

Understand the reasons behind your child鈥檚 behavior.

Rather than reacting to a child’s problematic behavior, positive discipline asks the grown-up to understand the reasons behind the child’s behavior.
Example: If your child won’t say “Hello” when you introduce a friend, don’t scold them for being rude. Instead, consider how they might be feeling (e.g. shy, intimidated, scared, etc.). Afterwards, ask how they were feeling and talk together about how they might have the courage next time to say hi — or not — but most importantly, talk about their feelings and seek to understand why your child feels that way.

Prioritize encouragement over punishment.

Focus on what your child is doing right instead of only pointing out when they do something wrong. This will help your child feel valued and motivated to act positively.
Example: When your child washes their hands before dinner without you asking, praise them for doing it on their own. When they don’t wash their hands, calmly ask them to please do so before joining the dinner table. Once they do, thank them, again without lecture or admonishment.

Teach problem-solving skills.

Involve your child in finding solutions to their challenges. This will help increase their critical thinking skills and provide a sense of responsibility.
Example: If your child keeps forgetting to take their lunchbox to school, ask them if they can come up with their own way to remember. Maybe they want to put up a sticky note or a visual reminder near the front door or invent a morning mnemonic to say every morning, like, “EAT!” (Stands for: Eat All Lunches!)

Lead with empathy.

Be curious, compassionate, and understanding with your child. When you model that it鈥檚 important to try to see someone else鈥檚 perspective, your child learns to empathize and understand that their actions don鈥檛 just affect them. They also affect the people around them.
Example: When your two children are having an argument, sit down with them after both have cooled off and ask them to explain why each was angry. This isn’t about figuring out (yet) who was wrong or right, but getting their point of view. After listening, that’s when the three of you can figure out how to resolve the problem.

Take a collaborative approach.

Involve your child in discussions about rules, expectations, and consequences to help them understand and internalize them. This type of collaboration fosters a sense of agency.
Example: Your child routinely doesn’t come down to dinner when you call them. At a calm time (not in the heat of the moment), sit down with them and collaborate on a way to make sure they are there on time. Maybe they want you to walk into their room and walk them down or even help you cook dinner so that they are already in the kitchen.

Provide consistent expectations.

Set and communicate clear boundaries and be consistent in enforcing them. Communicating and explaining those boundaries explicitly teaches your child the expectations in various situations, and consistency helps them realize that the consequences aren鈥檛 negotiable.
Example: You have a no-screens-in-the-bedroom rule, with the understanding that breaking this rule means forgoing having their smartphone for a week. Then one night, you discover your tween scrolling on their phone in bed an hour past bedtime. You calmly restate the house rule and say unfortunately, they’ll have to go without the phone for a week. This isn’t punishment, but an outcome of not following a rule created to limit screen time and foster good sleep habits.

Respect their feelings.

A parent’s natural response to an upset child is to fix the problem. If kids are sad, parents often want to make their child happy. If kids are angry, the parent may respond with their own anger. Instead, positive discipline encourages parents to allow a child to “feel their feelings” before trying to fix them.
Example: When your child gets angry that they can’t stay at the playground when it鈥檚 time to leave, you say that you see that they are angry and disappointed. You reiterate that they still have to leave now, but when they calm down you can both talk about when you can both come back to the playground. Even if they continue to be angry, you hold your ground and calmly guide them out of the playground.

Treat mistakes as a learning opportunity.

This is about focusing on the effort, not the outcome. Getting a “C” on a school report or missing an important goal in a game isn’t the end of the world. As adults and children, the point is learning from our mistakes to do better next time.
Example: Although you’ve told your child not to carry too many dishes when clearing the table, they stack one too many and drop and break a plate. After asking them to clean up the mess (if they are young, they’ll need help), you gently remind them that this experience is a great learning opportunity to know it’s better to carry fewer dishes so none break.

Foster a sense of belonging and significance.

Teach your child that every person is valuable and has something significant to contribute to the world. It helps your child understand their role within your family and your community, which, in turn, fosters a sense of shared responsibility
Example: Your neighborhood community center is doing a winter coat drive for the unhoused. You ask your child how they think the family could help and work together to do a coat drive at their school.

Remember that practicing positive discipline is a practice. Although positive discipline stresses consistency, that鈥檚 sometimes easier said than done, given the daily stresses of parenting. There are plenty of times when a parent makes split-second decisions, says things they don鈥檛 think through, or when co-parents disagree on how to handle a situation. Given that the core concept is about learning from mistakes, adults can benefit from seeing their own mistakes as opportunities for growth instead of something to be afraid of, which teaches resilience, responsibility, and the view that it鈥檚 always OK to try, try again.

The benefits of positive discipline

Positive discipline encourages you and your child to have open communication. If you make a decision that鈥檚 inconsistent with the expectations you鈥檝e laid out, it鈥檚 OK to say something like, 鈥淚 know I told you that you can鈥檛 hang out with your friends because you didn鈥檛 finish your homework by dinnertime. I also know that鈥檚 not what we agreed on. I鈥檓 sorry. I was annoyed, and I reacted before I thought. You can hang out for a while if your homework is done.鈥�

This open dialogue fosters mutual respect and understanding, showing that making and fixing mistakes is OK. that when people feel respected, they are more likely to respect others, including authority figures and peers. Your child is more likely to feel more comfortable expressing their feelings and thoughts, which allows everyone to feel heard and valued.

Teaching your child self-discipline and responsibility

As your child experiences the logical and natural consequences of their actions, they begin to understand why it’s important to be responsible for their behavior. Imagine, for instance, that instead of giving your child a time-out for not picking up their toys, you let them experience the natural consequence of being unable to find their favorite stuffie at bedtime because it wasn鈥檛 in its regular place.

Even though you may eventually help your child find the stuffie, they can see that if they鈥檇 taken the responsibility of putting it away earlier, not only would they experience the emotional comfort of the stuffie being readily available, but other favorite bedtime rituals — like storytime — wouldn鈥檛 have had to be cut short.

Building self-esteem and decision-making skills

Unlike traditional discipline methods, which can be punitive and lead to feelings of shame or inadequacy, positive discipline helps build your child鈥檚 self-esteem. As your child is guided to solve problems and make decisions within established boundaries, they become more self-confident and develop better decision-making skills as they grow.

Reducing power struggles

Positive discipline also reduces power struggles between you and your child. When you work with your child to solve problems, you understand each other better and avoid confrontation and blame. This collaborative approach helps your child feel some control over their environment, reducing the likelihood of defiant behavior (and the frustration that behavior may evoke from you).

Positive discipline鈥檚 impact on child development

Positive discipline contributes significantly to a child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. In part, that may be because at the heart is the belief that children aren’t “good” or “bad.” Just like adults, they engage in behaviors that could be considered 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渂ad.鈥� Children learn essential life skills like self-discipline, responsibility, and emotional regulation by relying not on punishment but on understanding children’s feelings and needs. You also avoid making children feel shamed or blamed for behavior that is typical for their age.

that children from households that practice positive parenting have stronger mental health, do better in school, and are better equipped to handle stress and adversity.

shows that approaching parenting with a positive discipline lens leads to healthier brain functioning in areas associated with emotions and cognition during the teen years.

Strengthening your parent-child bond

When you use positive discipline, you meet your child where they are developmentally, helping build a stronger bond at every growth phase.

That means as your toddler learns to trust, you can respond to outbursts of frustration at being told 鈥渘o鈥� with empathy while also modeling how to self-regulate and regain control of your emotions.

As your preschooler starts asserting their independence, you encourage them and recognize the positive decisions they make along the way. It means that as your elementary school-aged child begins to realize that they live in a community where everybody鈥檚 actions have consequences, you help them work through the emotions that come from the consequences of their actions. And it means that as your tweens and teens start having more complex interactions with friends, you help them problem-solve ways to deal with conflict.

For teens, psychologist and senior advisor at , notes that positive discipline supports a sense of autonomy.

“Positive discipline sees youth as full human beings in need of opportunities to learn from their mistakes in ways that support their autonomy without shame,” Whitlock shared via email. “In its best form, positive discipline or parenting allows a teenager to gain a sense of autonomy, build a deeper trust with their parents, and accept responsibility when they make a mistake.鈥�

Empathy, understanding, and informed knowledge about what your child needs from you to support their development help you connect on a genuine level. Positive discipline is about guiding and correcting behavior respectfully and thoughtfully. The goal is to help your child grow up confident, responsible, and emotionally intelligent.

Another plus? Practicing positive parenting can greatly strengthen your bond with your child.

Success stories from families embracing positive discipline

What does positive discipline look like in practice? Consider this scenario: An 11-year-old child, we’ll call them Alex, repeatedly forgets to do their homework.

With a more traditional discipline approach, Alex’s parents might regularly hound them to do their homework and revoke privileges when it isn鈥檛 completed. That can lead to frustration and resentment and will not solve Alex’s problem in the long run.

Using a positive discipline approach, Alex’s parents can start by empathizing and talking to their child to better understand why they forgot their homework. In that conversation, Alex might be comfortable enough to explain that they feel overwhelmed by the amount of work or tired at the end of a school day and after-school activities.

Together, Alex and their parents can devise solutions to make homework more manageable. They agree on a daily schedule, so Alex does homework right after a snack and before free time. They decide that if Alex gets overwhelmed, they’ll take a short brain break and return to finish their homework.

After agreeing on the new homework routine, they talk about their roles. Alex鈥檚 parents would not hound or nag but would gently — and consistently — remind Alex for the first few days. But only until Alex’s new routine became a habit.

They praise Alex鈥檚 efforts to stick to the new routine and focus on positive action. And Alex isn鈥檛 scolded when they don’t follow the routine for a day. Instead, Alex, Mom, and Dad discuss what went wrong and how they would correct it in the future. They emphasize that it’s OK to make mistakes and learn from them.

The focus is on understanding, cooperation, and guidance rather than punishment. The approach is about more than just getting homework done. It’s about teaching Alex responsibility and self-discipline in a nurturing and supportive way. Gradually, Alex begins to manage their responsibilities better, growing their confidence and self-reliance.

Understanding and implementing positive discipline can be a game-changer in parenting. It fosters healthy development in children and enriches the entire family dynamic. By adopting the principles of positive discipline, you can create a loving and respectful atmosphere that supports the growth and well-being of your whole family.