Discipline can be a tricky subject.

Different families have different discipline preferences — but not all of them are appropriate for sitters. Spanking, for example, should never be implemented by a caregiver, even if it is the family’s preferred method of discipline. Instead, use this list of Sittercity.com common discipline tactics and consequences as a guide to the best approach your caregiver can take.

Logical Consequences
Consequences that are controlled/engineered by a babysitter or parent
Example: If a child runs into the street, he is no longer allowed to play outside.

Tips: The sitter should be able to remain calm, but state the consequences firmly. She also must be prepared to follow through on the consequences immediately.

Withholding Privileges
Telling the child that he will have to give up something he likes as a consequence of his actions
Example: If a child keeps throwing toys at the TV, he is not allowed to watch his favorite show that day.

Tips: Tell caregiver not to take away something the child actually needs (like a meal) and to also make sure this consequence is implemented immediately after the bad behavior.

Time-Outs
Isolating the child for a certain period of time as punishment for bad behavior
Example: Asking the child to go to their room for ten minutes if they’ve done something they know is wrong.

Tips: Be specific! Tell the caregiver to give the child a time-out period of 1 minute for each year of his age. (So, a 4-year-old would have a four-minute time-out.)

Photo credit: Getty Images

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Child Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.