Published on June 25, 2011 in Behavior Unraveled

 

 

"The most commonly asked question is “how do I get my child to stop ________?” Have you ever tried to “punish” a child’s behavior with no success? For a procedure to be considered punishment by definition, it must decrease the frequency of the behavior. Therefore, the reason for a lot of frustration with “punishment procedures” is that the behavior is actually being reinforced. I can’t stress enough how important it is to be aware of this! Next time you reprimand your child or put them on timeout, ask yourself if it is really working or did you just reinforce them with attention or escape?

I can’t remember the last time that I’ve had to put a punishment procedure in place. Here are some reasons punishment is not as effective as we would like to think.

1. It doesn’t provide a replacement behavior. By punishing behavior, you are simply telling your child what they can’t do without giving them the appropriate replacement.

2. Punishment is a temporary fix. It might work for that day, week, or month, but without a replacement, the results usually aren’t permanent. Often times, the child won’t know how to gain reinforcement in desirable ways and revert to the old behavior you were punishing.

3. The focus is on the bad. You are bringing attention to the negative behavior instead of reinforcing the positive. Punishment often causes emotional reactions such as stress, anxiety, embarrassment, etc.

Of course, there are times when punishment may be necessary. If a behavior is dangerous to the child or those around him (such as self-injurious behaviors), an immediate consequence may be your only choice. However, whenever possible, try to use reinforcement techniques discussed earlier to make behavior modification easier on everyone in your family!"