Eliminate Punishment Eliminate Child Abuse

I was writing my first book about the Power of Respect when I was asked if I would please help out at our Montessori school, called Children’s House. There was a student who could not be dismissed from the school, but who was causing so much trouble for the rest of the students. She was hurting children left and right. She was four years old.

I agreed to help. I became her constant companion. I was consistently respectful to her, but would not let her hurt other children. I’ve walked my talk for many years. I played with her, was kind to her, shared information like, “Other children won’t want to play with you if you hit (pinch/scratch/kick…) them.” And “Children like when you share (take turns/ask for what you want/play with them…).” And “See how they want you to play with them now?”

During one wonderful play session with several other children, she revealed that she was treated in the same way that the child whose mother was found guilty of child abuse, had treated her son.

Over the years, I found that the children who were hurtful to other children at Children’s House had at least one parent who was hurtful to them.

I’m here to share with you an alternative to punishment. If you use the Power of Respect in your family, everyone gets their needs met, but not at the expense of anyone. Just make respect your bottom line when relating to your children.

If you want help with this just get in touch with me. That’s my work.

By the way, after two weeks of working with that hurtful and hurting child at Children’s House, I was asked to leave…because she no longer needed my help. She was getting along fine with the other children. I went back to my writing.

No Punishment…No Risk of Child Abuse

In today’s news a mother has been found guilty of child abuse by doing things that some people believe are acceptable ways of punishing children. I certainly do not beleive that, and neither did the jury.

It’s time to eliminate the risk of child abuse. Just because your parents did this to you and you do it to your children and everyone you know does this to their children, it does not mean that you cannot be arrested, as this mother was, and be found guilty of child abuse, as this mother was.

Instead of trying to figure out which punishments are okay and which are not…eliminate punishment completely, eliminate the screams of your children and replace them with the joy of laughter and children being happy and respectful. You can do this by using the Power of Respect.

Using the Power of Respect can get you what you want: cooperative, helpful children who listen when you speak, without the pain of punishment.

The tools, skills and strategies of the Power of Respect are so simple that three year old children learn them easily. Most people know most of them already, they are just not in the habit of using them with children in the way taught by the Power of Respect.

One of the most important is to be respectful to children. This cannot be stressed enough. Being respectful is not unknown to most people. However, being respectful to children is not is not the most common use of respect. 

Learn how to use the Power of Respect and reap so many more benefits from your children than punishment will ever give you, if it gives you any…