We all dream about the wonderful parent we want to be and of our compliant, well-mannered children. But the reality of everyday parenting, exhaustion, impatience, nonstop child activity, finances, and more, can quickly send us to the parenting place we never wanted to go. We say things to our children we wish we could take back. We ignore our children or lash out in anger often intended for someone else. We moralize, letting too much personal frustration or other emotions show. It's normal and is all part of being a parent. So how do we get our children to listen? What's a parent to do?

What is discipline?
Discipline is all about teaching our children how to act in a socially acceptable way, how to acknowledge their emotions, how to control their reactions, and how to understand the way the world works and their place in it. With positive discipline we help our children learn to behave so when they're all grown-up and we are not there to guide them, our children will know what to do. For some reason, we seem to associate discipline with punishment. When we think about discipline as a teachable moment and not necessarily a punishable one, we're more likely to help our children learn and succeed. Discipline is really everything we do, say and teach our children.

How do you change the "not-so-nice" behavior into the stuff their grandparents would be proud of? Here are some ideas to get started. Keep in mind that change takes time, patience and consistency - three things busy parents have little of. Here's what we can do to guide children with a loving, but firm hand:
- Set clear, realistic, and age-appropriate limits and expectations.
- Use choices, redirection, and logical consequences to refocus our children.
- Be consistent in disciplining our children.
- Encourage, support, and praise self-control and efforts of self-control.
- Realize the greatest form of teaching is role modeling.