Episode 16: Positive parenting: What is the best way to discipline my child?

Host: Cindy Hovington, Ph.D. and Founder of Curious Neuron (www.curiousneuron.com) (follow us on Instagram here)

Guest: Yehudis Smith, M.S. Ed.

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An early childhood educator for over 13 years, Yehudis has always cared deeply for the social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological development of children, and believes in the new generation’s ability to bring our world to the next level.

Graduating with a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education, Yehudis is trained in the techniques and ideologies of Conscious Discipline and various other progressive educational philosophies. She built her company, Imagined Educational Consulting, LLC, from the ground up, and provides a number of invaluable services to schools, including teacher mentoring, professional development, and educational consulting. She also coaches parents one-on-one and gives conscious parenting workshops and webinars.

Yehudis is a newly published author. Her book, Rethinking Discipline, is a must-have for parents who want to learn more about conscious parenting and are searching for ready-to-go techniques to handle conflict in the healthiest and most effective way, with a focus on child-parent connection.

Yehudis is also an advocate for many issues, most notably helping abused women.

She resides in Parkland, Florida with her husband 10 years and her 4 young children.

When we think of disciplining our children, we often think of punishing them for their bad behavior. However, this doesn't teach our child what to do when they are frustrated or which behaviour is appropriate when they are mad. My guest today, Yehudis Smith (Author of Rethinking Discipline) teaches us about conscious parenting.

Key messages:

You hit your sister!? GO TO YOUR ROOM! What does this type of response to our child teach them? (if they hit their sister to get a turn with the toy)
Discipline is about teaching our children new skills.
Notice your child and their actions. ‘Wow, I see that you worked hard to put your toys away! Thanks!”
Conscious parenting is not about being submissive it is about being sensitive to your child’s needs, being connected to them, yet having boundaries.
How are we teaching our children to respond to conflict?
If you do yell at your children, take time to “repair” this after. But the key is to try minimize yelling. You want to model the interaction. She explains how.
Perfection is not an attainable goal in parenting! As long as you are taking steps to try to do better and be better… then that is great! We also can’t expect this perfection from our children.
Don’t shy away from conflict.
Your interactions with your children should be constructive and not destructive
The foundation of conscious parenting is connection. Constantly connect through your children.
Look at a child’s “misbehaviours” as “mistaken behaviours”