It can be a challenge to maintain discipline in young children. The fact of the matter is that, at the age of toddler and earlier, children aren’t able to communicate as effectively as they are later on. Still, it is important that parents begin to discipline their child at a young age.

When thinking about discipline and young children, it is important to think about what exactly discipline is and what discipline is not. Often, when we think about discipline, we think about punishing a child for misbehavior. While this may indeed be a part of discipline, the fact of the matter is that, especially with young children, there are more important aspects to discipline. For example, encouraging positive behavior in young children tends to be much more productive than discouraging misbehavior. In addition, even misbehavior should be seen as an opportunity to teach the young child proper behavior, and to help the child to be able to communicate more effectively.

There are some techniques that are especially effective for discipline and young children. For example, redirection is one of the best tools that a parent has in terms of disciplining a young child. When a child is engaging in an inappropriate activity, simply approach the child and redirect them to a positive activity. Modeling is another excellent discipline technique for young children. When a child is stomping on his toy, for example, you can simply tell the child, “oh no, we mustn’t step on our toys. That will make them break, and then we won’t be able to play with them. Here is how we should play with this toy,” and then pick up the toy and model the right way to play with the toy.

Perhaps the most challenging part about disciplining young children is that they have limited empathy, and a somewhat limited understanding of cause and effect. When a child hits her brother, for example, she knows that the brother screams. She may even like the sound. But she may not understand that the sound is coming because her brother is in pain. Helping children to learn empathy and to understand cause and effect is an important part of disciplining young children as well.

Unfortunately, it is not at all uncommon for children to act out, and to hit other children or adults. Hitting is a relatively common problem. When trying to figure out how to go about disciplining a child who is hitting, it is important to first understand why it is that the child is hitting.

For a toddler, hitting might just be a sign that they toddler is developing at a normal pace. Toddlers have a difficult time trying to understand, for example, how hitting will harm another person. They might not have any aggression, for example, when they are hitting. Often a toddler will hit just in an effort to try to make a point. For other toddlers, hitting might represent an experiment with cause and effect. If a toddler punches his sister, for example, he gets to hear her scream.

When you are disciplining a child who is hitting, there are some things that you might try. First of all, your child is probably not trying to actually hurt their playmate. You need to explain that his hitting hurts his playmate. You need to assume the best, that your child is probably not trying to misbehave, but rather express herself. If he is hitting because he is frustrated, learn to recognize the signs that he is getting frustrated. Help him learn problem-solving skills to deal with that frustration, and then keep an eye out for when he is getting frustrated. In addition, don’t reward the child who is hitting with attention; instead, give more attention to the child who has been hit.

If your child is hitting regularly, won’t stop, and is hurting other children, you may consider seeking the help of a child psychologist, psychotherapist, or even your family physician. Each of these people can help you explore other possible causes for the hitting, and help to find the right remedy for your child.

Just about the time you think you have this whole baby thing figured out, your little one hits that milestone that most babies reach somewhere between five and ten months of age. She becomes mobile. Up until now, your baby has pretty much stayed wherever you put her. Or, at the very least, she wasn’t able to go very far or very fast. But now, look out. Get that kid a pair of goggles, because she’s off to the races.

Once a baby figures out that he can move around all by himself, it doesn’t take long before he figures out how to do make those arms and legs go fast. What’s more, he’s likely to think that trying to outrun you is great fun. Of course, he has no way of understanding that this also poses certain dangers to him, and chances are you have no real way of explaining it to him.

All of this means that we have to adjust some things in our households, if we haven’t done so already, to make sure that all of the places where baby can get to are baby-proofed and safe. This means making sure that all electrical sockets have covers. What it is that appeals to babies about outlets is something we’re not likely to ever figure out. Maybe it’s just the fact that it’s something different, and conveniently placed at eye level with a crawling baby (who ever came up with that brilliant design concept, anyway?).

We also need to make sure that floors are picked up so that baby can’t get a hold of anything that could be harmful. At this age, babies still tend to feel that anything that can go in the mouth should go in the mouth, so we want to be extra careful about what we drop on the floor.

Another change you’ll want to make if you haven’t yet is installing baby gates to keep baby into areas where you want her to be and out of area where you don’t want her to be. Baby gates are available commercially, and are generally inexpensive.

You’ll also want to lower the crib down to the bottom setting if you haven’t yet. If baby isn’t standing already, she will be soon, and you don’t want her practicing her high dive just yet.

The bottom line when adjusting to a new baby milestone is to look around, and try to find anything that could produce a hazard from a baby’s eye view. Then, do what you can to remove or reduce the risks. And, don’t worry. About the time you get used to a crawling baby, she’ll start walking. And running. And climbing.