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Three Categories of Discipline Essays

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Discipline is an essential component of every child’s developmental process. From birth, the primary deficiency of children is their lack of knowledge and understanding of the world. Contrary to the negative connotation of the word’s modern usage, “discipline” actually has origin in Latin meaning “to teach.” Therefore, discipline is simply the teaching of information that is necessary for children to be successful in their respective environments. In child development, discipline refers to the teaching of self-control and morals intended to foster sound reasoning and behavior. The response to inappropriate behavior through physical punishment is what gives discipline the negative connotation among many in contemporary society. …show more content…

The success of power-assertion is dependent on the child’s continuation of fear of the authoritarian parent. This fear tactic has very powerful effects on children, and can result in immediate behavioral changes. This “fast cure” makes changing to a different discipline seem unnecessary. However, due to habituation and maturity, children begin to question authority, leading frequently to an escalation in the tactics used by the parent to maintain this absolute power. In addition, continuing use of power-assertion has been linked to unjustified aggressive behavior and moral immaturity in children (Hoffman, 2000). Love withdrawal is a psychological form of discipline in which a parent employs threat, the removal of attention and love, and a variety of punishment that can range from docile (ignoring for a few seconds) to extreme (threats to leave the child). This form of punishment also is highly effective at younger ages, as it preys upon the natural dependency of a child and uses fear to induce guilt to achieve the desired behavior. As the child ages, their feeling of guilt translates into higher than normal occurrences of depression and anxiety. As adults, the children who had received love withdrawal harbor high levels of resentment and anger toward their parents (Segrin & Flora, 2005). Induction includes the forms of discipline in which the parents use conversation to reason with the child to fully explain the potential

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