Seven things to Do Instead of Smacking

_1.
Don’t react immediately. Lock yourself in the bathroom for one minute while the initial anger fades and so you can think of another rational way of dealing with the situation.

2.
Learn about the correct way of using time out (or variations of time out), either to diffuse the situation or remove your child from what they are doing.

3.
Use logical consequences for children’s difficult behaviour.

4.
Hug your child and remind them that you know that they are tired/upset/cross and keep hugging until they calm down.

5.
Ignore the less serious difficult behaviour. Pick your battles.

6.
Reward them for getting things right- and name what they are doing correctly so they want to do it again.

7.
Have a “No Hitting anyone” rule. If a child is told that mum and dad don’t hit each other or hit the children, then “no hitting your sibling” makes much more sense to them.