Quote of the Day

Discipline alternatives are the positive methods of procedure or practices which child/youth workers use to control or correct inappropriate behavior. The title discipline alternatives to punishment was chosen because I believe there is sufficient evidence to indicate that punishment, one form of discipline, is not an effective technique to use with troubled youth. Punishment may provide immediate control in some situations, but over the long run it usually leads to more severe behavior patterns than the ones the user was trying to correct.’ In other words, punishment reinforces youths’ poor self images and this often leads to more self destructive behavior. Discipline alternatives, on the other hand, can be effective if used as part of an overall positive approach or treatment plan. Effective discipline alternatives improve youths’ self images and lead to more self fulfilling behavior.
Following are descriptions of the characteristics I believe differentiate an effective discipline alternative from punishment:

Prevention — Before a discipline alternative is used, all of the preventive alternatives are exhausted first. This means that child/youth workers look at their relationships, the treatment environment and specific activities to see if there is anything which can be changed to prevent the youth from acting inappropriately. Once all the possible changes are made or proposed then the alternative is chosen in case the behavior still persists after the prevention strategies are employed.
Punishment focuses entirely on dealing with a problem after it occurs. It relies on the penalty or pain which is suffered after behaving inappropriately to deter the offender from behaving the same way in the future.

Consequences — Effective discipline alternatives concentrate on setting logical consequence together with the youth(s) beforehand. The objectives are to reach a mutual agreement about what will happen if the youth decides to misbehave and to avoid power struggles when the youth is misbehaving by being able to refer back to the mutual agreement. For example, a group may decide beforehand that the consequence for goofing around in the group van is to pull over to the side of the road and wait until everyone is settled and then return to the agency rather than proceeding to the designated activity.
Punishment relies on consequences which are frequently introduced for the first time after a behavior occurs. For example, the worker may stop the van and tell all the group members that he/she is returning to the agency where everyone will spend an hour in his/her room for not behaving in the van. These situations tend to increase power struggles and to create confusion abut the relationship between the penalty and the offense

Reality of the Social Order — Discipline alternatives are based on consequences which reflect the reality of the social order. In other words, the consequences which are derived together are logically related to the social conditions which prevail among group members. For example, a group may decide that the consequence for being late to breakfast is to be awakened earlier. In this particular setting, missing breakfast is not an option nor is it fair for the worker to spend time with one youth who is lagging behind the group. Thus, the logical consequence reflects the social needs of all group members.
Punishment reflects the reality of the adults’ authority. For example, the adult tells the youth who is late for breakfast that he will have to work for an hour after school because the adult said so. This approach creates two major problems. First, youths learn very little about their own authority when adults constantly impose their authority on them. They continue to perceive adults as being in total control of their lives. Second, youths today are much more likely to ask why or engage in power struggles than youths in the past. Youths have been exposed through the media to adults disagreeing about many major issues. For example, they frequently see their sports heroes arguing with each other and officials, and they witness politicians debating different sides of an issue. Consequently, they do not believe that there is a consensus adult authority or opinion and they are much more likely to challenge adults who rely totally on authority.

Internal Control — Discipline alternatives teach youths that they have the internal control to regain their composure. For example, an adult reminds a youth that he must leave the activity until he is able to show that he can return. Or, the consequence for not cleaning one’s room is that the youth is responsible for cleaning the room before moving on to the next activity.
Punishment relies on external control. For example, the adult tells a youth that he/she must leave the activity until the adult is ready to allow the youth to return. Or, a youth is placed in a locked confinement room for fifteen minutes.

Psychological and Physical Pain are Not O.K. — Discipline alternatives assume that psychological and physical pain are not O.K. Youths are in a state of ego deterioration when they are misbehaving and more pain enhances, not relieves, ego deterioration.²For example, deprivation of food, sleep, and clothing; belittling remarks; or physically painful intervention such as sitting or arm twisting only serve to further convince troubled youths that they are no good.
Punishment assumes that more psychological and physical pain will reduce undesirable behavior patterns. The problem with this line of thinking is that most troubled youths have experienced an abnormal amount of psychological and physical pain prior to entering youth care programs. If this technique worked, they would be the healthiest youths in the world.

Reinvolvement a Priority — Discipline alternatives encourage youths to return to the ongoing activity as soon as possible. Since ongoing activities are considered to be part of the treatment process, the objective is to include youths in as much of this process as possible. Therefore, the message with an effective discipline alternative is always "we want you back as soon as you are ready to return." Punishment emphasizes exclusion. The message is "you are no good, so we don’t want you as part of our group."

MARK KRUEGER
Krueger, M. A. (1990). Intervention techniques for Child/Youth Care Workers. Washington: CWLA. pp 102-107