Crippling Our Children with Discipline

Abstract

The author advances the thesis that disciplining children is damaging to their physical, emotional, and social well-being. A distinction is made between self-discipline and externally imposed discipline and between the noun “discipline” and the verb “to discipline.” To discipline children, parents and teachers need power, which is derived from administering rewards and punishment. Because parents and teachers find rewards are ineffective, most rely heavily on punishment. Evidence is presented to support that punishment is used by nine out of ten parents, is used on children of all ages, is used frequently at home and in schools, and is often severe. The democratic and equalitarian parenting model put forth in Effectiveness Training is advanced as an alternative to adult power-based control of children.