My mom is a professor of early childhood education with decades of experience and I have discussed the show with her. While Super Nanny has all the obviously silly trappings of a reality TV show, the essentials of her disciplinary techniques are accurate to the modern understanding of how children develop and how they should be disciplined.
The fundamental misunderstanding in many homes is that discipline involves punishment. Discipline is in reality the process of teaching children how to manage themselves within society's rules. It is inherent in all aspects of child rearing. The most important aspect of discipline is to create and maintain a supportive, structured, healthy environment--and this is usually where Super Nanny starts: healthy meals at regular times, a set schedule every day, and clear rules that are enforced consistently.
So how to enforce the rules? Two recent developments in the understanding of childhood development pertain. First, the most important thing to a child is the attention and support of their parents. Therefore supportive attention is the greatest coin in enforcing discipline. This is why "time out" works so well.
Second, children--especially young children--learn far more from observation than they do from interaction. (Observation and recording is basically how the brain "boot-straps" the human mind in the first few years of life.) So parents should always model appropriate behaviors. This is why Super Nanny exhorts parents to always remain calm but firm. Parents who freak out teach kids that it's ok to freak out.
So consider spanking: it delivers a mixed message. The interaction is a negative reinforcement, but a) the parent is paying a lot of attention to the kid, and b) the parent is modeling that striking another person is sometimes an ok thing to do.
Hacker Cinema
1 comment on Hacker News
My mom is a professor of early childhood education with decades of experience and I have discussed the show with her. While Super Nanny has all the obviously silly trappings of a reality TV show, the essentials of her disciplinary techniques are accurate to the modern understanding of how children develop and how they should be disciplined.
The fundamental misunderstanding in many homes is that discipline involves punishment. Discipline is in reality the process of teaching children how to manage themselves within society's rules. It is inherent in all aspects of child rearing. The most important aspect of discipline is to create and maintain a supportive, structured, healthy environment--and this is usually where Super Nanny starts: healthy meals at regular times, a set schedule every day, and clear rules that are enforced consistently.
So how to enforce the rules? Two recent developments in the understanding of childhood development pertain. First, the most important thing to a child is the attention and support of their parents. Therefore supportive attention is the greatest coin in enforcing discipline. This is why "time out" works so well.
Second, children--especially young children--learn far more from observation than they do from interaction. (Observation and recording is basically how the brain "boot-straps" the human mind in the first few years of life.) So parents should always model appropriate behaviors. This is why Super Nanny exhorts parents to always remain calm but firm. Parents who freak out teach kids that it's ok to freak out.
So consider spanking: it delivers a mixed message. The interaction is a negative reinforcement, but a) the parent is paying a lot of attention to the kid, and b) the parent is modeling that striking another person is sometimes an ok thing to do.