At some point, my children decided to grow up. For the record, I did not authorize this … but there’s not much I can do about it now. They’re getting older (now 10, 8, and 3 years old) and are testing boundaries more and more every day. Through this, I’m finding discipline to be more and more difficult. Of course, unlike a job, I’m not bound by a company policy that says when and how I have to discipline my underlings.
Three different kids with three different personalities means that my husband and I have to discipline in three different ways. You know what they say – what works for one won’t work for all. The oldest child is a bit spoiled and materialistic, so the most effective way to discipline her is by taking away the things that she enjoys. The eight-year-old, however, is much more empathetic. Conversations about how her actions affect other people usually work the best with her. And then there’s the three-year-old terror… I mean, boy. I love that kid more than life itself. He’s extremely difficult though and we’re still trying to figure out what will work best for him.
Personally, I think that disciplinary actions for employees can, in some ways, be even more difficult than for children. As with kids, adults also respond in various ways to different situations. A conversation with a supervisor may work some but mean nothing to others. A dock in pay, however, may work for another group of employees. Unfortunately, many company policies do not allow for the diversity of people or the varied severity of situations.
I would love to find a reasonable way to adjust this so that employees and employers both are comfortable with some effective disciplinary standards in the workplace, or perhaps a company that already has something in place that works. I’ll be looking into this further so that I can share with you all. And if you have ideas or know of companies with a unique policy, share with us on Facebook or Twitter!
