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Home › Articles › Discipline › The Truth About Consequences

The Truth About Consequences

Natural and Logical Thinking About Discipline

By Lisamarie Sanders

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It's Only Natural – and Logical
Consequences are broken down into two categories: natural and logical. Natural consequences are those that occur without any parental intervention. "Parents don't have to enforce them because they follow naturally from the child's actions," explains Goldstein, co-author of Raising Resilient Children (Contemporary Press, 2001). If a child does not eat, she feels hungry. If a child does not dress properly, he feels cold. Natural consequences are often the best teachers, and should be allowed to happen whenever possible.

However, there are times when natural consequences are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate. For example, the natural consequence of running into the street is being hit by a car. This, of course, is unacceptable. The natural consequence of throwing food is a dirty floor, but that doesn't matter to a young child. Therefore, that natural consequence would be ineffective.

In such cases, parents are encouraged to use logical consequences. "A logical consequence requires parental intervention directly related to the misbehavior," says Dimerman. "One that makes sense." So a child running into the street would be taken inside. A child who throws food would have his plate taken away.

Logical consequences require forethought and creativity as well as patience. Parents need to inform their child of the consequenes before enforcing them. In the food-throwing example, a parent using logical consequences might say, "Peas need to stay on the plate. If you keep throwing them I will remove you from the table." This lets the child know what the consequence is and offers him a choice. He can keep the peas on his plate and continue to eat, or he can throw another pea and be taken away from the table.


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