According to a post on LiveScience, one-third of parents say that disciplining their kids isn't working out. Two thousand parents of kids ages 2-11 were surveyed by researched who were interested in finding out more about four common types of disciplinary techniques: "time-outs," removal of priviledges, yelling, and spanking.

Most parents, almost 45%, said that they had used "time-outs," and 42% tried removing privileges. Only 13% said they yelled (...which is complete bullsh*t. Only 13% yell? My ass.), and 9% copped to spanking (again, we all know that number is probably higher).

About 31% claimed their methods were not effective, and 38% said they used the same techniques their parents used on them.

This article makes no mention of positive discipline techniques (or techniques which rely on natural consequences), and whether parents who use those claim to be successful.

Personally, I'm a fan of combining techniques—a sort of "1-2 discipline punch," if you will— for maximum effectiveness and satisfaction.  When my kids are being unruly, I might start out with a little, "I understand you are frustrated when your sister takes your toy and that's why you want to hit her, but hitting hurts people's bodies and isn't nice." I don't want to say that. I'd rather say, "Cut it out or mama will make you pitch a switch," but we're not supposed to do that on the first go, right?

If at that point, I'm still hovering in the 30% effectiveness range, I calmly kick it up several notches, "If you hit your sister again, I'll give her permission to hit you back."  That bumps me up to "100% parental satisfaction guaranteed" everytime. And no one had to get medieval.

[image credit: Mean Mom University forum]