The 10 Worst Discipline Mistakes

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my 10-year-old nephew's baseball game.  It was a typical summer, Saturday afternoon setting--the sounds of a baseball park, kids and families, juice boxes, sun umbrellas, kids playing in the water, and an endless supply of grapes, potato chips, and baby carrots.  Unfortunately, as soon as the game began, the fun and calm of that setting was quickly ruined as the coach of the other team immediately began yelling and screaming at his own players for the mistakes they were making.

In case you didn't catch it earlier, these were 10-year-old kids.  They make mistakes.  They are not major league ready baseball players.  I thought the whole point of Little League was to teach basic skills, help kids to grow and develop, and let them have an enjoyable time.  This coach obviously had a different view.

His antics got me thinking about the mistakes that we often make as adults in raising and rearing the children around us.  Whether it is as a parent, a coach, a grandparent, a mentor, a teacher, or whatever else, it is important to periodically do a self-evaluation.  At times, we have to "recalibrate" as parents in order to get out of the parenting traps that we periodically fall into.  The handout below is a helpful tool I have used over the years to remind myself of the traps and bad habits I often fall into with my own children.  Hopefully you find some value in it as well! (Here's a link to the same article.)

Mont Criddle, LMFT

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