Effective Ways to Discipline Kindergarteners Who Misbehave

Set the Stage

• Teach your kindergartener what is expected of him in terms of behavior, both at home and when he's at school. Explain what the consequences are in both locations for misbehaving. For new kindergarteners, give them a grace period to learn the rules and begin to correct themselves before applying the consequences. Go over the rules with them at home each day for the first week of school, for example, and provide reminders when needed. Work with the classroom teacher to reinforce her rules by going over them with your child and praising him when he follows these rules without having to be reminded.

Wall Charts

• Behavior charts are a widely used form of discipline and self-regulation in many preschool and kindergarten classrooms. Perhaps your child's teacher uses a stoplight method, with green symbolizing good behavior, yellow a warning and red an infraction. Whatever the approach, learn her system and talk to your kindergartener about it to ensure she understands what it means. Tell her she will lose five minutes of recess if her behavior places her on yellow and 10 minutes if she is on red. Remind her she loves recess and doesn't want to lose the opportunity to play with her friends.

Separation

• Whether it's a time-out chair, a desk apart from his classmates or a bench on the playground, your kindergartener likely won't want to be in any of these locations if it means being separated from his peers. Just as you might use time-out as a disciplinary technique at home, remind your kindergartener that he will be separated from his friends in class if he isn't obeying the teacher's rules. At this age, being able to be part of the group and getting to do what others are doing are important, so the prospect of missing those opportunities is often an effective deterrent to misbehavior.

Rewards Systems

• Young children at this age are typically eager to please, so you might find a reward system to be an effective behavioral control technique. In the classroom, teachers might put marbles in a jar each time a child displays good behavior or the class is complimented for following the rules. The kids know that when the jar is full, the whole class gets a reward, such as extra recess. Use this approach at home with your kindergartener as well. If she's struggling with behavior at school, give her a star on a calendar for each day she stays on "green" at school or tell her you'll go get ice cream together if she has a certain number of sequential "green" days.