Researchers Studying Best Ways To Discipline Young Children

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- How do you discipline your children, and does it work?

Here's what some parents walking through Market Square have to say:

"The 5-year-old, she listens really well; the 2-year-old, it's just almost a guessing game day to day, situation to situation."

"We try to model good behavior. So for example, if she's having a tantrum, we try to keep ourselves calm as well."

"For big offenses, we just try to take things away that mean a lot to them."

"I think reward systems work a lot."

"Punishments work for very few of our children."

The most effective way to discipline your children could depend on how they're misbehaving.

A paper being presented at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto shows reasoning with children is immediately effective when they try to bargain or whine.

Punishments, like a "time-out," are more effective with oppositional behavior, such as hitting, or being defiant.

These findings are based on a study of 102 mom volunteers and their descriptions of disciplinary episodes with their toddlers.

Though reasoning doesn't work in the short term for oppositional children, the study showed it did work long term. So some sort of punishment immediately followed by a later discussion of the behavior may be a good strategy.

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