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Discipline starts in the home

Monday, April 7, 2014

Some stories puzzle me. Take, for instance, the story “Parents beg for discipline in schools” written by Sue-Ann Wayow in the Trinidad Express on March 25. That story absolutely baffles me—especially the part where a parent said the biggest mistake was removing corporal punishment from school.


Clearly, discipline has become one of those buzzwords that everyone throws around, but no one seems to understand. Discipline has become some vague concept that we all think children should have, but no one seems to be able to pinpoint what exactly discipline is and who is responsible for instilling it in children. In the above mentioned article, some parents actually advocated the return of corporal punishment.  


Let’s take this step by step.


1. Corporal punishment is not effective discipline. As a matter of fact, I don’t even consider it a form of discipline. Corporal punishment is beating a child. Beating children results in anger, frustration, depression and fear. It does not teach children to think about their actions to prevent issues. It only teaches them to fear the result of their actions.