How To Discipline Children: 8 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make In Disciplining Their Kids

There are no perfect parents in the world. Along the way, parents are going to make mistakes and commit errors in parenting their kids. Fortunately, there are some tried and tested ways on how to discipline children.

Parenting has made a list of eight mistakes that parents make when disciplining their kids. They also gave some tips on how to correct those mistakes so that parents can discipline their children better.

The first mistake on the list is telling lies to children to keep them behaved and make them do what you want. Instead of telling lies, be patient in empathizing with their feelings and explaining to them the reality of the situation and why they need to behave or do a certain thing.

The next disciplining mistake on the list is when parents do not follow through with their warnings and gentle threats. It is correct to explain to children what their punishment will be if they misbehave, but what is incorrect is when parents do not follow through with their warnings. Children need to be taught early that there are consequences for wrong actions and misbehavior. Just make sure that the punishment is gentle and will not traumatize the child.

Another disciplining mistake is when one of the parents is not being consistent with punishing bad behavior. The parents need to be united in disciplining their kids so that they will have an easier time distinguishing right from wrong.

Bribing children too frequently is also a mistake. "So instead of saying 'If you're good at Grandma's today, I'll buy you a toy,' try 'I'm really proud of you for sitting so nicely during dinner at Grandma's,'" Picking Your Battles author Bonnie Maslin told Parenting. "Saying 'I'm really sad you broke the present Daddy gave me' makes a child feel appropriately bad about his behavior. You may feel like a terrible parent in the moment, but you're actually helping your child develop a conscience."

Another mistake to avoid is when parents break their own rules. This might give an impression to children that it is alright to break the rules and that these rules are really not important.

The sixth mistake on the list is losing patience and being controlled by anger. Walking away and having a personal time-out is a great way to avoid getting too angry with children.

The last mistake on the list is giving long and complicated explanations and instructions to kids. The best thing to do is to keep the explanations and instructions short and simple.

Parents also need to remember that there is more than one set of rules and guidelines on how to discipline children. Assuming that what works for one child will work with other children is a mistake, according to Parents. "You may have to go about getting the behavior you want in different ways with each kid," Mommy Guilt co-author Avivia Pflock told Parents.