Can smacking ever work?
Jo is keen to keep out of the smacking debate, but she firmly believes there are plenty of better discipline techniques. “As a nanny I never smack. It’s not something any nanny should ever do, but I think the mistake some parents make is thinking that no smacking means no discipline, and that’s a great pity. “Children need boundaries and they need discipline to stay within those boundaries. Without those, the children gain the control. And when you’re a child, being in charge is confusing and scary. It’s like saying to a cashier in a bank: ‘Right, tomorrow you’re running Morgan Stanley’. The cashier mentally won’t be able to handle it. It’s exactly the same with letting your kids do what they want. Little wonder they go off the rails.” The following discipline techniques are appropriate for children aged two- and-a-half and over. A younger child’s reasoning skills aren’t developed enough to understand what you’re trying to teach them. The naughty step The idea of the naughty step is to
