ChurchSafety

Handling a disobedient child is a challenge for anyone—particularly when it happens during a church service or in Sunday school. Learn how to safely discipline kids and protect your teachers with our simple tips.

• Develop a discipline policy. Develop a written discipline policy and have an attorney review it for compliance with state laws.  Make sure parents are familiar with the policy.
  
  
• Take a positive approach. Consider discipline as a positive approach that includes training and corrective action when needed. Punishment may be a part of a corrective action, but only after other efforts to guide behavior have failed.
  
  
• Get to know the parents.  Having a relationship with a child's parents will give you a context in which to frame the child's behavior.  Parents will be more accepting of disciplinary actions if they are comfortable with you.
  
  
• Tailor discipline to the child. Make sure the disciplinary action fits the child's age and stage of development.  The same offense committed by children at different stages will warrant different levels of discipline.
  
  

• Don't take it personally. A misbehaving child is still a child.  Don't assign adult motivations to the situation or become personally offended by disobedience.
  
  
• Keep it in perspective. If disciplinary action escalates, keep the punishment in proportion to the offense.  Spell out the consequences ahead of time and then follow through.
  
  
• Be a role model.  How you discipline others will influence how they handle discipline.  Keep this in mind during any corrective action taken with a worker who deals with children.
  
  

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