Pardon me while I dust off the old soapbox... ahem...

I read an interesting article the other day about behavior and punishment. It was one of the few articles I’ve read in quite some time that I whole heartily agreed with. My favorite line was this: Good behavior is not learned from punishment and time-outs but rather from ‘time-in’ and those moments that parents allow their children to practice good behavior. How true is that?!! The article went on to say that obviously punishment is needed, but punishment is and should be used as a means to stop the behavior in that moment, not to correct behavior over time. For example your child is refusing to share and snatching toys away from a playmate, a time-out is the perfect thing to stop this behavior in the moment, it removes your child from the situation and gives your kid time to cool down, and while I do believe that it will let your child know that, such behavior will result in a time-out (cause and effect), especially when a parent takes the time to have a heart-to-heart with the little offender after his time-out is over, it will not keep your child from committing the same behavior again and again (negative punishment rarely results in long time positive behavior, or so this theory went…). However, teaching your child how to share, practicing sharing and giving TONS of praise and love when he or she shows that good behavior, will result in good behavior changes overall. The article was just one of those that really resonated with Greg and my thoughts on raising Greyson. I loved too how it pointed out that children learn the most from example. I often stop myself from demanding Greyson pick up his toys or do this or that now, and remember that I expect him to say please, so why shouldn’t I? A calmly said, “Greyson, will you please pick up your toys and come to the table?” goes much farther than a yelling, “Greyson Lee pick up your toys and get to the table now!” It’s like spanking your kid because he or she hit another child? Um… Hello??

Anyway, it was in the August issue of Parents magazine and I highly recommend it.

Ok, yeah, that was my soapbox moment of the week. I’ll tuck it safely under the bed now and try my best to keep it there for awhile!!

To lighten the mood, here is a totally adorable picture of my little peanut…