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Calm Parenting Podcast
Let's Make Discipline Easy Without Being Authoritarian or Permissive #622
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That's my S K-Y-L-I G-H-T.com parenting so whenever I hear the words parental discipline, I cringe because there's so much baggage that comes with the word discipline. Discipline. For me, all it meant was my dad was really angry, yelled at us, and we were always in trouble. And sometimes now we go to the other extreme. It's like we don't do any discipline at all with our kids. But I believe that good discipline should always lead to a closer, more trusting relationship with my child, not separation from my kids and spouse in many regards. So that is what I want to discuss because I believe that you can discipline your kids, which means to teach without yelling, without reacting, or without giving in. So that's what we're going to discuss on today's episode of the Calm Parenting podcast. So welcome. This is Kirk Martin, founder of Celebrate Calm, and you can find us and our summer sale@celebratecalm.com so a few basics. Discipline is something you do for your child, not to them. Sometimes saying no, even when it makes your kids angry, is the most compassionate act you can take for your child. Learning how to control your own emotions is a gift to your child. Discipline is not about the convenience of the moment or the child's behavior right now. It's not punishment. It's not sending kids to their rooms or taking things away. Discipline means to teach. The goal is to impart wisdom to our children so they can be responsible for their own behavior. See, the best discipline is self discipline. I want to teach kids how to control their own behavior so that you don't have to make them behave right. You remember that? That was the whole thing like, well, I just need to make my kids behave. Well, if I'm making them behave through fear, intimidation, punishment, coercion, well, I'm being responsible for their behavior. And they never learn how to make their own choices. Discipline is love. Because I love you, I. I take the time necessary to instruct you. I risk you being mad at me for saying no. I summon the physical and emotional strength to follow through even when it's inconvenient, when I'm tired. And when I am in public because that's hard. So here are three questions I learned to ask myself before I would discipline. Number one, have I shown my child how to control himself or herself first by modeling it myself. See, have I shown that? Have I shown kids how to do that? Because just saying like go to your room, cut that out or else I'm not showing them anything, I'm just sending them away from me. And I do that first by modeling it myself. Number two, have I given my child tools to make a different choice next time? So I have to actually give kids tools to do it differently? Just like at the workplace when we're starting a new job, they don't say like hey, here's your desk, go do your new job. They train you, they show you how to do different things. And number three, have I built a closer, more trusting relationship with my child? Because that's not the model I grew up with. And in a lot of the circles in which we used to travel and teach and grow up with, well, the relationship wasn't really that important. It was just like, well, we just need to get our kids to behave. But I believe that the good discipline will lead to that closer, more trusting relationship. You know, the trust thing. And I'll probably get to this later. I don't want my kids to be outwardly behave for me just because there's a consequence coming. I want them to do it because they trust me and we have that relationship. Because if you don't, you will be separated from your kids and, and most likely your spouse. So I want to shift from changing outward behavior to addressing the root of the issue. From me constantly disciplining my child to my child learning self discipline. And typically as parents we react immediately to our child's outward behavior. Hey, stop it. I'm going to take away your video games. You better listen to me or else. So rather than punishing a child for failing or misbehaving because that's what we're doing, Child messes up and now it's like, oh, now you're in trouble for failing, for misbehaving. I'd much rather give the child tools proactively to help him or her be successful. But many of us want a quick fix. Just snap your fingers and kids obey you. It doesn't work like that. Especially doesn't work like that with your strong willed kids. This is going to require some work, but you will have kids who listen to and respect you. Now the first go to of every parent is well, we Just need to give them consequence. But I want to show you why consequences don't work that well. Look, consequences are necessary and helpful. They establish boundaries, but they're very limited in effectiveness. Consequences merely let the child know, hey, that was wrong, you messed up. But your kids already know that they messed up. That's why they lie to cover up that. It's why they cover up the behavior so they cover their shame so they won't get in trouble. What they need help with is knowing how to make a different choice next time. But kids don't behave rationally. Neither do adults. Kids don't always have the reasoning ability to stop before acting. Say, oh yeah, if I do that again, I'll lose X. Most human behavior is driven by something emotional underneath the surface. We don't make that many truly rational decisions. I know we as men, we like that, like the whole world is rational. It's not, you didn't marry your spouse. Most likely you didn't get married for rational decisions. There was something emotional underneath the surface. We do this all the time. So think about this logically. There are dire and deadly consequences for all kinds of adult drinking too much, eating too many unhealthy foods, not exercising, gambling, being a workaholic, smoking, speeding. You can die from these behaviors or lose everything you own. And yet rational human beings like us do them every day. These consequences don't address the internal emotional, psychological needs underneath. So they fail. Here's the other thing. Strong will. Kids don't care about losing things. This is critically important to understand. What they value most is autonomy, independence and agency. They will lose their stuff, but they do not want to lose their autonomy and their independence, their ability to touch the hot stove. They don't mind doing that. So consequences aren't a deterrent to strong willed kids. They're part of the process of learning. And by the way, many of your kids, when you bark out consequences, how many of them look at you and they're like, I'm trying to consider if continuing to do this activity is worth the consequence I'm going to get. And they often see it as a challenge to overcome. They want to call your bluff. And most consequences don't even address the underlying issue issue. The outward behavior we see often has nothing to do with the real issue. It's just an outward manifestation of something going on inside. Anxiety is a quick example. I did a podcast on anxiety back in early, I think it was late May. May 28th. I did that. Well, kids get anxious and they'll lash out. I'm not going to this new class. It's stupid. You're stupid. And we'll be like, you're disrespectful. Don't. You can't talk to me like that. Well, there's. You're not even addressing the real issue, which is the underlying anxiety. So I want to get to the root of the issue, not just react to the outward behavior. Right. It's always like, well, what consequence can we give our teen tween daughter for not doing her homework? Well, my answer is you can give her any consequence you want because you can't consequence a kid into caring about school. This isn't an internal motivation issue. A child who feels overwhelmed can't be consequenced into doing better. They need tools more than consequences. It's also why timeouts are largely ineffective, especially with your younger kids. Good luck getting them. You need to sit, sit in that chair and think about your actions. Okay. You're just going to fight for the next 15 minutes. So I want to give you dozens of alternatives. I do that throughout our program, especially the Discipline that Works program and just update and revise that. It's fantastic. But I'll try to give a few here in this podcast. Look, constantly correcting and giving consequences really means we are taking responsibility for our kids behavior. When they mess up, then we get resentful and we get all worked up. So after 25 years of working with almost a million families with strong willed kids, if I had a child now, what would I really focus on most? Here are three. Three of my top ten. Not necessarily in any order, but number one is my number one. One connection is critical. Simply put, if you do not have a healthy connection with your child of any age, no discipline is going to work. Because if you've constantly corrected and been negative, look, no blame or guilt, but if you've done that, if your child feels like the black sheep of the family who's always in trouble, you must first heal the broken relationship and create a more connected, trusting relationship. Otherwise it's going to be met with predictable defiance or a child who's shut down. And when I look back, this is what ultimately changed Casey's behavior and our relationship more than any particular strategy or technique. In so many situations, I felt entirely justified in laying down the law or laying into Casey about his attitude or behavior. But I often chose humility because it broke down the walls. It took away the shame. It made him more receptive to my instruction. Teaching it de escalated situations so we could all get to a better place inside before problem solving. So don't lose that connection with your child. Do not withdraw like I did. Like when he was young, I just didn't know what to do, so I would do this thing. Fine, you know what? You guys would just be better off without me. And then I would disappear to the basement. And inside I was like, you know what? I'll just go earn a living. You can handle all of this. And don't justify. Well, when that kid stops being difficult, I'll just have a relationship with him. Don't repeat the same patterns you learned from your parents. And I know these kids can be tough to connect with, but find things to bond over. Take an interest in their music, their interests, Ask them to teach you something. And look, at first, some of these times, they were really intense and uncomfortable and I was learning how to calm myself down when I just blown it. And I'd yelled at him. And I was having this internal war raging inside of me. Why won't this kid just listen? My dad was never patient with me and I turned out okay. Why does my son make everything difficult? But also why can't I even control myself as a grown man? Am I really cut out for this? Maybe I should just go to work and hide in the basement. But I love this kid. I want a relationship with him because I never had one with my dad. But I just feel so ill equipped to do this. I feel helpless. I can run a business. I'm highly disciplined in the gym, with finances, with my diet. But then my son does one thing I don't like and I lose it. Or even if I don't react, I'm sure he can see the disappointment in my eyes. Why am I such a bad parent? Am I becoming my dad? And I wrestled with all of these thoughts and feelings and some of you are just going to. It's with guilt. Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much? What would my mother say? And so I want you to know this. When Case and I do, you know, we go on a lot of hikes together. And by the way, this is really cool. This is. I almost blew it with Casey and ruined our relationship. And he's getting older now. And so his birthday and Father's Day gift for me was, was to take me on a two week hiking trip. He has planned it all out himself and he's taking that time. And so I am going to ask you for the next couple weeks, please don't send us long emails because I really want to take this time with Casey. And we're going to hike together, really hard hikes. We're going to have the I anticipate these really amazing talks and it's a beautiful thing. And when we do have these long talks on our hikes together, he'll often say, dad, one of the things that I respect is that although you weren't great at this at first, I saw you struggle and work really hard to change. And you did change. I watched you become a new person and I knew your dad so I could tell the difference. And Casey said that when he was young, he would sometimes listen to me because he was afraid of the punishment. But as he got older, it was because he respected me and and knew I was there for him, walking alongside him, patiently showing him a different way. This summer we've met people on the trails from all over the world. Tourists underestimate how tough this elevation can be out here, so I always have extra cure hydrating electrolyte packets with me because it provides quick, delicious, pure and effective hydration. Cure is clinically proven to hydrate as effectively as an IV drip. Cure is also clean, natural hydration. No added sugars, no artificial ingredients like expensive sports drinks. It's just coconut water, pink Himalayan salt and a burst of real fruit. And you don't have to compromise on anything because cure tastes great with flavors kids and adults love. Don't mess with my Berry Pomegranate. Try cure in the morning afternoon, just like we do daily and I bet you'll feel energized with more clarity without the crash and exciting news. You can now get cure hydration at your local target or get 20% off@curehydration.com with code calm. That's curehydration.com code calm. So this is cool. I go to hungryroot.com calm. I click our food preferences Carb Conscious, less sugar, high protein, anti inflammatory and I immediately get 10 plus options. So I choose the Tzatziki Chicken bowl with quinoa. With 47 grams of protein, it takes five minutes to prepare. It's delicious. No wasted ingredients, no stress battling traffic and grocery store lines. Hungryroot is like having your own personal shopper and nutritionist wrapped into one. They recommend healthy groceries and meals tailored to your family's tastes and they have amazing kids options. Make Hungerroot part of your back to school routine to de stress meal time. This school year you're going to love Hungerroot as much as we do. For a limited time, get 40% off your first order plus get a free item in every box for life. Go to hungryroot.com calm and use code CALM. That's hungryroot.com calm code CALM to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. We're talking on the podcast now about getting ready for back to school time. Here's another idea. Let your kids have some ownership of their homework space. Go to Wayfair.com you'll find a huge assortment of desks, organizers and school supplies that can help your visual learners. Let your kids pick out a few items. We switched one year to a standing desk so Casey could move while writing and doing work. It was a game changer. We love Wayfair.com because it's one stop shopping right from the comfort of our home with fast free delivery even on those larger items. Oh, another idea. Get a whiteboard so you can visually lay out your schedule and chores. Wayfair makes this easy. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home Upgrade. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W-A Y F A I R.com Wayfair Every style, every home okay, number two, change your expectations of your child and yourself. If I could talk to you in person, I would implore you to relax a bit. Parents of young kids often think we better nip every single bad behavior in the bud or we're going to raise an entire titled sociopath. So you constantly correct little kids who are just exploring like they're supposed to. Toddlers and little kids are not supposed to always make good choices. They are by definition learning and doing almost everything for the very first time. They have no practice. There are a bundle of impulses exploring the world. Their job description is to be curious, make messes, and ruin your agenda. Most of the time they're not being disobedient, they're simply exploring. They're supposed to touch the hot stove and be impulsive and get in trouble and make mistakes and then learn from those mistakes. Even in the tween and teen years, they're just learning how to navigate a brand new world with surging hormones and new social situations. They're just trying to figure life out, just like we are in our 30s, 40s, and 50s. And I always remind my guy friends that when you and I were little kids, we were dopey, immature kids who did stupid stuff. How many impulsive hormonal decisions did we make as teens? So stop being shocked that your kids lie, cover things up, steal, blame Their siblings take things, push the limits, don't always listen, sneak their screens late at night, cheat at games, don't listen the first time, sneak food, whine and complain, have meltdowns, talk back and have attitude. It's normal. It doesn't mean you let them get away with things. But it would be weird if your kids always made good choices. It would be weird if your teen or tween said, mother, father, you have so much wisdom from all your life experiences. Could you share what you would do in this situation? And then I'll do exactly what you tell me. Look, a question I sometimes ask myself was, what didn't my child do in this situation? So when was our child we used with Casey was get a note from school, well, your son button line in the cafeteria. And I was like, okay, that just shows he has initiative because he was hungry, but he didn't push, kick, stomp on some other kid. Okay, so your teenager is acting goofy in class because he thinks that's the best way for him to get other kids to like him. It's wrong, but at least maybe he's not vaping, doing drugs or committing violent acts. Right? But it's hard because if you were the good girl or good boy growing up, you think kids should just behave the way you did, but your kids may just not do it the way you would do it. I like the strong will kids. So smile when your kids act up or mess up. Don't take everything so seriously. Stop listening to all those hardcore people who make you think if you don't correct every single thing right away, you're not being a good parent and your kids are going to grow up to be sociopaths. It's not true. Your kids are going to be fine because they're largely going to follow the DNA of your home and the example you set. So number three, model it. Model how to handle life. You can't expect your kids to control themselves if you can't control yourself. I get so many emails from moms and there's six paragraphs about their child's behavior. Hitting, meltdowns, throwing things. And then in the final sentence, a mom will say, well, my husband has anger issues. And I'm like, well, I didn't need to read the first six paragraphs. There's no blame or guilt. It's just a simple fact. Moms and dads, we have to control our own anger, emotions, perfectionism and reactions or our kids won't be able to. Because if you can't model self discipline, how can you Expect your kids to so you have an opportunity every single day to model how to handle disappointment, frustration, things not going your way, unexpected changes, how to handle conflict, and get along with people who irritate you. Those are all the same things your kids struggle with. And they're watching how you respond. So that's where most of your energy should be spent is teaching by showing them that. And when you mess up, well, then you apologize and you reset. And I love the idea of a parent coming home from work one day and saying, especially younger kids, man, I am so frustrated. Traffic was backed up, my boss was on me all day long, my big project didn't turn out the way I wanted. Hey, would you guys do a few push ups with me right down. And you could do a different activity or you can ask a teen to lift weights or go for a run. You can ask kids to sit in color. But what you are modeling and teaching your kids is this. It's normal to feel frustrated, disappointed and angry. Instead of my mom or dad stomping through the door, yelling and being upset, my mom and dad do push ups. They run, they color. You're actively showing them how to handle the frustrations that usually lead to hitting siblings, misbehaving, etc. Another reason I want you to spend so much time learning how to stop reacting and to slow down your inner world is that instead of being clouded by anxiety and anger, you will now have the clarity to see situations more clearly. Then you can push problem solve instead of simply barking consequences. It's almost like being able to run a slow motion replay in your brain so you can situ see the situation more clearly. I should call it being like a molasses parent. So look, you don't have to be a tyrant. You don't have to be permissive. I want you to be the calm, authoritative leader who uses an even matter of fact tone, who stays in control of himself or herself, who leads with confidence and humility. We don't have to do the extremes. You know, you guys better listen to me or else. And I also. You don't have to use that. Well, I need to talk to my kids like this in a sing songy voice. No, that doesn't work either because you've already said this. Your strong will child is like 3 going on 13 or 14 going on 44. Don't use that really sweet tone. It sounds condescending. It sounds patronizing to them. Even matter of fact tone. So I think this dad summed everything up perfectly. Kirk, he emailed. Kirk, I was Very skeptical when my wife bought your program. And honestly, I don't like that you constantly talk about us controlling ourselves because I justified so many of my overreactions. But I finally took the challenge you gave in the Dad's program, there's one of the 14 programs you get is there's one for dads, there's one specifically for moms. And one of the challenges put as much energy into controlling yourself as you've put into fitness, finances and your career. Two big changes this dad noticed. My kids aren't a afraid of me anymore. My wife can leave the kids home with me alone for a weekend and know she's not going to get calls from the kids or from me. I'm not perfect, but I can now walk into a room and de escalate a situation. I'm getting more hugs and I feel proud of myself because this has been a more important accomplishment than meeting my fitness and career goals. So thanks for being a pain and pushing me. Look, my friend, you did all the hard work. So moms and dads, this is hard work and you're doing it. This parenting thing is not supposed to be easy. And while we often think we're raising kids in many ways, this process is actually causing us to grow up. So I encourage you wrestle with these ideas. You're going to come face to face with these deeply ingrained beliefs about discipline and child rearing. And I respect you for working so hard to break these patterns. If we can help in any way, let us know. I encourage you use Summertime when you don't have all the stress to start breaking these patterns. Work through the programs. And by the way, let your kids listen over the summer because they get these principles way quicker than we do as adults. And they'll also annoyingly remind you, hey, mom, dad, you're not doing what that guy said. Okay?
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Don't do that.
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But anyway, hey, I love you all. I respect you. I hope you're enjoying your summer. We'll talk to you soon.
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