Sound Discipline is now BELONG Partners!

Mutual Respect

  • Empowering Students – Growing Citizens

    At Sound Discipline we often begin workshops by asking teachers to imagine a student returning to visit as a young adult. We ask them to think of what gifts or qualities they hope that student will have acquired. The list is long. It often includes things like compassion, empathy, confidence, problem solving skills, healthy relationships,…

  • Is It Really Disrespect?

    We’ve been having a lot of conversations about respect at schools this month. Educators are telling us that students don’t “respect” them. When we drill down a little further, the story is that students are not obeying adults. Are respect and obedience the same thing? We don’t think so! Interestingly, one of the most common…

  • Curiosity Questions Start Brains Thinking

    You know how adults sound on those old Charlie Brown cartoons? Wah, wah, wah, wah, waaaaaahhhhh…” Yes, I am guilty as well. We just want to get our kids moving and we want them to just listen and do what we say. Then we feel irritated and challenged when it seems as though they are…

  • Bullying and Our Culture

    Adults sometimes use power to change someone’s behavior by humiliating them or scaring them. There is an implicit assumption that the person is not already doing the best they can at the moment, that somehow they don’t care and that fear and shame will be helpful motivators. This is craziness. We know from brain science…

  • What is your Request?

    When I first started teaching parenting classes, I had a couple who came up with the idea of asking their daughters, “What is your request?” They were parents of preschoolers and I’m sure their days were filled with hearing what their children didn’t want to do, or didn’t want to eat. It was such a…

  • Non-stop Negotiation Getting You Down?

    As the parent it doesn’t always feel so great when all of your positions get shaved away by your budding courtroom lawyer. It is exhausting. Setting limits firmly and still honoring the dignity of your child isn’t really hard, but it takes practice.

  • Family Work: Whose Job is It?

    Contributed by Jody McVittie, MD When I grew up everyone in our family had jobs to do. Many of them were centered around our family dinners (setting the table, clearing the table, washing the dishes, sweeping the floor). Other family jobs included feeding pets and taking care of the garbage (this was in the days…

  • Building Better Bedtimes

    Contributed by Jody McVittie, MD Do you ever finish putting your children to bed and feel exhausted? You’ve longed for some kind of connection with them at the end of the day – and way too often it feels like you’ve been through some kind of battle? When you think about it from the child’s…

  • Why is “No” so Hard to Understand?

    We might THINK we are saying no, but our bodies might be giving a different message.

  • I Can’t Believe I Did That! – And How to Make Repairs

    you “know” aren’t helpful? Does it seem like “Mean Mommy” or “Dreadful Daddy” have taken over your body and you can’t help yourself? What next?