After reading the books I thought I had to read on childbirth, breastfeeding and parenting, I thought things were going to be easy. But just like the so called "birth plan", a lot of things were thrown out of the window when it faced reality. When my daughter became 18 months old and transformed into this human with an attitude, wishes and whims, I found myself going crazy. 99% of my conversation with her were basically giving orders or warnings: do not touch that, it is hot, stop crying, you get the idea. While she could say some words, she definitely could not understand my instructions, or even why I was concerned.

The thing that we need to remember about discipline is why we do it. Parenting is not only about discipline. And, if you want to change a bad behavior, there are many ways to do it in a positive way. I would call that discipline. If you want to effectively discipline your child, a connection has to be made. An emotional connection that includes validating their emotions and accepting them as they are.

Rewards

Christopher Green, the author and Australian pediatrician, talks about two types of rewards: soft and hard. Soft rewards are