Punishment is a response to behavior that inflicts physical or emotional pain on a child. This can include yelling, name calling, hitting, sarcasm, ignoring, or isolating for a long period of time.

But punishment doesn't work!

• Because your (the parent's) behavior is the punishment, children may seek revenge or retalliation.
• Because children learn behavior from their parents, they will learn to punish others when they don't like something.
• Punishment can hurt the parent-child relationship. They may choose to avoid you.
• Punishment may stop the behavior in question, but it doesn't teach the child what to do instead.
• Children can become immune or desensitized to the punishment; parents find that they must increase the punishment for it to have the same effect.
• Punishment affects the way children think about themselves; it can harm a child's self-esteem and confidence.