Discipline
The key to success
Discipline helps us build good habits and stay focused on our goals at any stage in our lives; it fosters social skills and civic responsibility. This is why it is so important to set limits and help children learn to follow rules, starting at an early age. Self-control and self-confidence, necessary to live lives effectively and efficiently and mostly to pursue one’s life purpose, stem from discipline. Moreover, when children learn to comply to their parent’s and teacher’s authority, it becomes easier for them to follow the inner guidance of conscience as they grow up.
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Would you ever let your children ride a bike without teaching them to use the brakes?
Marty’s watch! is honored to include among its resources a milestone in a human values approach to education, specifically geared toward the important topic of discipline. Hints and practical guidance are proposed by Margaret Taplin and Anita Devi in their enlightening book “To teach not to punish” which stresses the importance of identifying the source of misdemeanors to correct the problems at the basis and provide lasting solutions to the same, instead of reacting to them with punishment. An approach to discipline which encourages “the pupils to focus on the desired behaviors rather than the problem behaviors” (Alderman – 2001), and calls upon values such as respect, friendliness, right conduct, co-operation, kindness, love, and more, inherent in the heart of all children.
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“To Teach not to punish”, which is available on this website curtesy of the authors, considers 50 common misdemeanors that occur in schools and suggests what action teachers may take and key vocabulary they may use.