discipline

n.

1. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.
2. Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.
3. 1. Control obtained by enforcing compliance or order.
   2. A systematic method to obtain obedience: a military discipline.
   3. A state of order based on submission to rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in the classroom.
4. Punishment intended to correct or train.
5. A set of rules or methods, as those regulating the practice of a church or monastic order.
6. A branch of knowledge or teaching.

tr.v., -plined, -plin·ing, -plines.

1. To train by instruction and practice, especially to teach self-control to.
2. To teach to obey rules or accept authority. See synonyms at teach.
3. To punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience. See synonyms at punish.
4. To impose order on: needed to discipline their study habits.

[Middle English, from Old French descepline, from Latin disciplīna, from discipulus, pupil. See disciple.]

disciplinal dis'ci·pli·nal (-plə-nəl) adj.
discipliner dis'ci·plin'er n.

noun

1. Something, such as loss, pain, or confinement, imposed for wrongdoing: castigation, chastisement, correction, penalty, punishment. See reward/punish/deserve.
2. An area of academic study that is part of a larger body of learning: branch, specialty. See part/whole.

verb

1. To impart knowledge and skill to: coach, educate, instruct, school, teach, train, tutor. See teach/learn.
2. To subject (one) to a penalty for a wrong: castigate, chastise, correct, penalize, punish. See reward/punish/deserve.

n

Definition: punishment
Antonyms: award, reward

n

Definition: regimen, training
Antonyms: chaos, confusion, disorder, disorganization, neglect, negligence, permissiveness

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Definition

The term "discipline" comes from the Latin word "disciplinare," which means "to teach." Many people, however, associate the word with punishment, which falls short of the full meaning of the word. Discipline, properly practiced, uses a multifaceted approach, including models, rewards, and punishments that teach and reinforce desired behavior. Through discipline, children are able to learn self-control, self-direction, competence, and a sense of caring.

Description

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that an effective discipline system must contain three elements. If these three aspects are all present in a program of discipline, the result generally is improved child behavior. The elements are:

• a learning environment characterized by positive, supportive parent-child relationships
• a proactive strategy for systematic teaching and strengthening of desired behaviors
• a reactive strategy for decreasing or eliminating undesired behaviors

There are several reasons why children may not behave properly, including a lack of effective disciplinary measures. Children also commonly misbehave when they are deprived of adult attention or when they are tired, bored, or hungry. Children from families affected by divorce and separation, poverty, substance abuse, and parental depression seem to be at greater risk for behavior problems. There may also be biologic factors such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and certain temperaments that predispose particular children towards misbehavior. There is also research suggesting that harsh disciplinary measures may actually increase poor behavior.

Ideally, discipline is based on appropriate expectations for each child, based on age and stage of development. It should be used to set reasonable limits in a consistent manner while still allowing some choice among acceptable alternatives. Discipline teaches both social and moral standards and should protect children from harm by teaching what is safe. It should also guide children to respect the rights and property of others.

Though there are a variety of ways in which children may be disciplined, there are some guidelines that all parents should follow:

• Discipline must be age appropriate. While reasoning and verbal explanations may be appropriate for the older child, children younger than 18 months are typically unable to comprehend the reasons for punishment.
• Parents should demonstrate a unified front when it comes to discipline. If parents exhibit opposing approaches, children learn to exploit these differences.
• Rules should be few but simple. Punishment should be a logical or natural consequence of the misbehavior.
• Though consistency is important, parents should remember that it is sometimes appropriate to be flexible and allow for some negotiation, especially with older children. Doing so can teach decision-making, enhance children's moral judgment, and reinforce independence.

Disciplinary techniques that are most effective take place in the context of a loving and secure relationship between parent and child. Parents' responses to a child's behavior, whether approving or disapproving, are likely to have a greater effect in a secure, loving environment, because children long for their parents' approval. As children respond to this positive relationship and consistent discipline, the need for negative interaction decreases.

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement focuses on good behavior rather than on undesirable behavior. Parents should identify appropriate behaviors and give frequent feedback, rewarding good behavior quickly so that the child associates the "prize" with the wanted behavior. A reward can be a word of praise, a special activity, additional privileges, or material items. Many desirable behavioral patterns start to emerge as a part of the child's normal development. The role of parents is to notice these behaviors and provide positive attention to them. Some other desirable behaviors are not part of a child's normal development and need to be modeled and taught by their parents. These behaviors include sharing, good manners, effective study habits, among others. Parents need to identify those skills and behaviors they want their children to demonstrate and then make a concerted effort to teach and strengthen those behaviors. Children who learn through positive reinforcement tend to internalize the newly learned behaviors.

Extinction

Extinction is a type of discipline that seeks to prevent inadvertent positive reinforcement for negative behavior. "Time-out" is one of the most common methods in this category. For younger children, time out usually involves removing parental attention and praise or placing the child a chair or some other place for a specified time with no parental interaction. The environment should be neutral, boring, and safe. Time-out works well for children from 18 months up to five or six years of age and is particularly useful for temper tantrums, yelling, whining, and fighting. The session should end only when the child has been calm and quiet for at least 15 seconds. Time out should last for a specified time, usually one minute per year of life (to a maximum of five minutes). Withholding privileges is another form of extinction that is more appropriate for older children and adolescents. This strategy requires the removal of a valued privilege and works best if it is used infrequently.

Verbal Punishment

Parents may express disapproval of a behavior by scolding or yelling. This may be effective if used very sparingly. However, if used too often it can cause anxiety in the child and encourage the child to ignore the parent.

Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment involves the application of some sort of physical pain in response to a child's undesired behavior. This response can range from a light slapping of a hand to severe beatings that qualify as child abuse. Because of this range in form and severity, the use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary method is controversial. In spite of the significant concerns raised by child-care experts, one form of physical punishment—spanking—remains a widely used measure to reduce undesired behavior in children. Over 90 percent of all families report having used spanking at some time as a means of discipline. Despite its common acceptance, research shows that spanking is a less effective form of discipline than others, such as time-out or removal of privileges. Although it may immediately stop a behavior, the effectiveness of spanking tends to decrease with repeated use. The only way to maintain the initial effect of spanking is to increase its intensity, which runs the risk of escalating to abuse. Spanking, at best, is only effective when used in selective, very infrequent situations.

Children who receive corporal punishment tend to grow into angry adults. The use of spanking in older children is associated with higher rates of substance abuse and crime and has been linked to poor self-esteem, depression, and poor educational performance.

Infancy

Discipline strategies with infants should be passive. The main goal is for parents to generally structure daily routines but to also demonstrate flexibility in meeting infants' emerging needs. As infants become more mobile, parents need to impose some limitations and structure in order to create a safe environment in which the child can play and explore. Parents must protect infants from all potential hazards in the home by instituting childproofing practices. If a child does attempt to play with or approach something dangerous or unacceptable, a firm "No" should suffice, along with either removing the child from the area or by distracting the child with an alternative activity. Parents should not expect that reasoning or reprimands will control the behavior of an infant.

Toddlerhood

Toddlers, like infants, still benefit most from passive types of discipline and a toddler-safe environment. Again, saying "No", along with redirecting behavior, is usually effective if the toddler is doing something unacceptable. At this stage, however, children are starting to test the limits of their power over and over again. It is important for parents to consistently set limits and stick to them. Doing so reduces the child's confusion and his or her need to test. This is also the time when time-outs might be introduced, especially when redirecting the child's attention no longer seems to work.

Preschool

Preschoolers are starting to understand the need for rules, and their behavior should be guided by these rules and the associated consequences. It is very important that children understand what is expected of them and why they are punished for a particular behavior. Preschoolers also learn from having their good behaviors rewarded.

School Age

If rules for behavior have been consistently modeled and expected by the parents, children should exhibit an increased sense of responsibility and self-control when they become school age. Timeouts and consequences continue to be effective disciplinary measures in this age group. As children continue to mature and desire more responsibility and independence, teaching them to deal with the consequences of their behavior is an effective method of discipline. By the time they have become teenagers, children should know what is expected of them and what the potential consequences of misbehavior are. However, discipline remains just as important for teens as it does for younger children. Teens require boundaries. This structure continues to provide order and a sense of security for children until they reach adulthood. When teens do break rules, taking away some of their privileges seems to be the most effective type of disciplinary measure.

Common Problems

One of the most common problems in child discipline is an inconsistent approach between two parents. It may prove helpful for parents to regularly communicate regarding their child's behavior and decide ahead of time what disciplinary methods are to be used.

Parental Concerns

Parents may be worried that the disciplinary methods they have decided are appropriate for their child may not be respected or followed by teachers and other adult caregivers. If this is a concern, parents should outline exactly what consequences or punishments they feel are appropriate and communicate openly with the other adults who care for their child.

Resources

Books

MacKenzie, Robert J. Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child: Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, Firm and Respectful Boundaries. Prima Lifestyles, 2001.

Periodicals

Banks, J. Burton. "Childhood Discipline: Challenges for Clinicians and Parents." American Family Physician (October 15, 2002).

Regalado, Michael, et al. "Parents' Discipline of Young Children: Results from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health." Pediatrics 113 (June 2004): 1952–1958.

Sears, William. "A Beginner's Guide to Discipline: Dr. William Sears Offers Six Strategies to Use Now to Help You Raise a Child Who's a Treat—Not a Terror." Baby Talk (September 1, 2003): 52.

Organizations

Center for Effective Discipline. 155 West Main St., Suite 1603, Columbus, OH 43215. Web site: .

Positive Parenting. 402 West Ojai Avenue, 101–246, Ojai, CA 93023. Web site: www.positiveparenting.com.

Web Sites

"Disciplining Your Child." KidsHealth, June 2001. Available online at www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/discipline.html (accessed December 27, 2004).

[Article by: Deanna M. Swartout-Corbeil, RN]

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Discipline is the training, indoctrination, and encouragement through reward and example of certain practices consistent with the purposes for which a soldier may be employed, such that the desired response may become self- or small unit-imposed, although ultimately failure to abide by this training and the rules laid out by the authorities will result in some form of military punishment. This will, as in the flogging and the drum out ceremonies, be didactic in nature, pour encourager les autres. Discipline has changed over time and varies according to geography and culture, so no statement on this matter may be expected to hold true for all armies or navies. But a few initial generalizations may be permitted to form a broad picture of military discipline.

Discipline is crucial to the effectiveness of any armed force. It has, in the case of most armies, been instilled by a combination of repetition, physical and mental challenge, and punishment for failing to meet certain standards. These three primary factors work in conjunction with one another and within a contextual framework which throws a number of soldiers together, with the aim of moulding them into a team. The soldiers are encouraged to live and eat together, to form a bond which will help them overcome the obstacles placed in their path during training. Beyond this broad direction, the soldiers will be encouraged to achieve high standards in the use of their weapons and in the care of themselves and their equipment. This is done not only to improve combat effectiveness, but also to increase the command and control officers may expect on the battlefield, and to enable the troops to undertake long and difficult campaigns without becoming unnecessarily susceptible to disease, discomfort, or malnutrition. Quite simply, if the troops are able to attend to their own clothing and hygiene, their officers will be free to concentrate on other matters.

After the training period is concluded military discipline continues to have a key role in the maintenance of the cohesion and effectiveness of a unit. Individuals are held to their responsibilities by the camaraderie of the unit, but also by the self-discipline that the training period has fostered, and, in some cases, not least by the continuing threat of punishment which forms an integral part of the military system. The most obvious illustration of this factor appears in cases where a soldier deserts his unit. The harsh sentences that have traditionally been imposed for this act may be expected to deter soldiers from leaving their unit or their post in any circumstances, although statistics on desertion in modern wars suggest that this is never quite the case. Over the centuries all manner of disciplinary measures have been used to induce such strict adherence to orders, mostly based on physical punishment or humiliation. In the American civil war, for instance, one rather unusual military punishment was to be shot with salt. Alternatively, a transgressor might be forced to walk around in a barrel, with ‘Deserter’ or some such word emblazoned upon it, while his comrades looked on. This must have been physically uncomfortable, and, for men brought up in a society where honour and dignity were paramount, excruciatingly embarrassing. This type of military punishment chastised those who had committed the transgression, warned others of the possible ramifications of similar acts, and provided an incentive for men to complete their duties.

Specific examples of the methods and uses of military discipline are not difficult to find in both fiction and fact. In the former, films such as Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket highlight the importance of discipline in a military unit, and the severe consequences that may befall those who fail to comply with the rules laid out by the authorities. Books such as Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage provide insight into the group dynamics of a military unit, and the place discipline occupies within that dynamic. Hannibal, in particular, was known to have a strong record of discipline, and his veteran troops displayed supreme courage and cohesion in their greatest victory over a poorly disciplined and woefully led Roman force at Cannae. The fact that Hannibal knew he could rely on his troops to maintain their cohesion and combat effectiveness even when beyond his direct view gave him the confidence and power to manoeuvre his forces without fearing loss of control over them. This advantage enabled Hannibal to execute a grand manoeuvre while his opponents remained clumsy and static.

The examples of the British archers at Agincourt and Frederick ‘the Great’'s infantry during the Seven Years War are well-known accounts of steadiness under fire and unflinching discipline in very unpromising circumstances. This was most important in battle, where, without discipline, a commander might justifiably fear his lack of command and control, thus forcing him into simple and often costly tactics. Worse still, if put under pressure, ill-disciplined troops might easily melt away leaving the enemy to garner an easy victory. A brief example may suffice here. At Austerlitz, Napoleon was able to overcome a larger Allied army by exploiting the comparatively poor discipline of the Austrian and Russian troops. Napoleon's own veterans maintained their discipline and cohesion, enabling Napoleon to counter-attack with devastating effect.

By contrast, ten years later at Waterloo, a rigidly disciplined British force, abandoned by some of its allies, was able to stand under French fire for the greater part of the battle without disintegrating, until the arrival of the Prussians destroyed the belief in victory that had always sustained Napoleon's armies and the Grande Armée finally dissolved into flight.

Discipline was traditionally enforced by a mixture of formal sanction (from summary proceedings to courts martial) and informal, sometimes brutal, coercion. The latter has been all but extinguished in most western armies, though it survives, controversially, in the Russian army. The armed forces of modern democracies find discipline and its legal enforcement at the very forefront of their relationship with the societies they serve. Most agree that what Gen Sir John Hackett called the ‘contract of unlimited liability’, which obliges servicemen to run risks unlike those accepted by most of their fellow-countrymen, continues to demand standards of discipline which must be higher than those applying to other occupations. They also admit that rigid, unthinking discipline is now neither militarily appropriate nor socially and politically feasible, and recognize that self-discipline, springing from shared values, personal honour, moral obligation or professional pride, has particular merits. But in the last analysis discipline is a crucial part of the cement which binds armed forces together. They, and, perhaps more to the point, their political masters, forget it at their peril.

Bibliography

• Crane, Stephen, The Red Badge of Courage (New York, 1895).
• Gudmundsson, Bruce, and English, John, On Infantry (Westport, Conn., 1994).
• Jones, Archer, The Art of War in the Western World (Oxford, 1987).
• McPherson, James M., For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (New York, 1997)

— Andrew Haughton/Richard Holmes

n. 1. the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience: a lack of proper parental and school discipline.

2. the controlled behavior resulting from such training: he was able to maintain discipline among his men.

3. activity or experience that provides mental or physical training: Kung fu is a discipline open to old and young.

4. a system of rules of conduct: he doesn't have to submit to normal disciplines.

v.

1. train (someone) to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience: he was afraid to discipline his men.

2. (often be disciplined) punish or rebuke (someone) formally for an offense: a member of the staff was to be disciplined by the general.

disciplinable adj. disciplinal adj.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

1. A state of orderly conduct conforming to a certain standard. Discipline may be maintained by an authorityover subordinates or exercised by oneself (self-discipline). Success in sport involves both.

2. A branch of knowledge, such as the disciplines of sports psychology and biomechanics.

IN BRIEF: Training in good behavior and skills.

One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline — and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with luck. — Carl Zuckmayer (1896-) German playwright, novelist and poet.

Quotes:

"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all." - George Washington

"Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline." - Barbara Tuchman

"Better to be pruned to grow than cut up to burn." - John Trapp

"You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine." - Tertullian

"Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." - Roy L. Smith

"Look upon your chastening as God's chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement." - Hannah Whitall Smith

See more famous quotes about Discipline

Dansk (Danish)
n. - disciplin, fag, afstraffelse
v. tr. - disciplinere, afstraffe, afrette

Nederlands (Dutch)
discipline, methode, vak, reglement, boetedoening, disciplineren, straffen

Français (French)
n. - discipline, matière
v. tr. - discipliner, punir

Deutsch (German)
n. - Disziplin, Zucht
v. - disziplinieren, strafen, züchtigen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πειθαρχία, επιστημονικός κλάδος, τιμωρία, (πειθαρχική) ποινή
v. - τιμωρώ, κολάζω, σωφρονίζω, πειθαρχώ

Italiano (Italian)
esercitare, punire, disciplina

Português (Portuguese)
n. - disciplina (f)
v. - disciplinar

Русский (Russian)
дисциплинировать, наказывать, тренировать, дисциплина

Español (Spanish)
n. - disciplina, rama
v. tr. - disciplinar, castigar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - disciplin, skolning
v. - hålla i styr, disciplinera

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
训练, 纪律, 惩罚

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 訓練, 紀律
v. tr. - 訓練, 懲罰

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 훈육, 억제력, 처벌, 규율
v. tr. - 훈육하다, 벌하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 訓練, 規律, 統制, 訓練法, 懲罰, 分野, 学科
v. - 訓練する, 罰する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) انضباط, نظام, فرع من المعرفه أو الدراسه (فعل) يدرب نفسه أو شخص آخر على الطاعه أو ضبط النفس, يعاقب شخص‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮משמעת, עונש, שיטה, דרך, תחום למידה או מחקר מדעי, אימון רוחני או גופני‬
v. tr. - ‮החדיר משמעת, העניש, אילף‬

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