Clarissa Guerrero: Positive discipline must be worked from love and understanding

Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep.

“It is a win-win deal, where the adult wins because it achieves the objective that the child emits certain behavior or reach a certain goal, but where the child also wins from the experience of what discipline is”, this is how the psychologist Clarissa Guerrero defined discipline when she was interviewed on the New Horizons Radio program, which is broadcast on Neón 89.3 and live stream on YouTube.

When approached by the radio program team to explain what positive discipline is and what is sought with this, Guerrero assured that while carrying out a disciplining upbringing of love and understanding, it is important to carry empathy and the limits to the table.

The psychologist stressed the importance of verbalizing emotions, constantly, up to a point that the boy or girl understands, from empathy, that it is necessary to obey the commands.

”It is important as adults to try to enter and see what the boy or girl is feeling at that moment, perhaps it is not anger, it can be sadness that leads them to express with the emotion of anger”, Clarissa clarifies, highlighting that it is necessary to explain to infants why it is no longer possible to continue doing a certain activity and motivate them by letting them know that in the future it will be repeated.

She added that it is necessary to set limits as a fundamental part of positive discipline since this is the way to guarantee in the future that the little ones feel safe and loved. She also stressed the importance of schedules at home and performing routines, both for the days they attend school and for weekends.

The also Principal of the New Horizons Bilingual School Elementary stressed the importance of handling situations with the ’challenging’ children, which she defines as those who most reflect the father. She says that it is necessary to make evaluations in the behavior of these children because many times it is necessary to correct them first as a parent and then work with the child.

Guerrero recommends that negotiations be held between parents and children, seeking a middle ground where parents put all the conditions from the beginning; that is, a list of options proposed by the father and mother and that the child makes a choice based on what has already been proposed. In the same way, it ensures that children during their growth must have responsibilities, which they carry out properly.

Finally, she stressed that the most important thing is that parents learn to self-regulate their emotions to be efficient and present parents in the lives of their children. Therefore, it was recommended to look for the regulation point that each adult has, to have effective communication within the family.