social skills 131
Parents in Mexico find another way to discipline
In Oaxaca, Mexico, a preschool program for deaf children
was started by a social worker and a teacher. Every day
parents came to the program with their children. The parents
participated in the activities with their children and they
supported each other.
After a while, the parents began to notice how often they
hit or shook their deaf children. They talked it over with the
social worker and decided they wanted to find another way to
discipline their children. The social worker explained the idea of
a ‘time out’: taking the child away from the problem situation
and having the child sit quietly for a few minutes.
The parents decided it would help them to stop hitting their
children if they fined themselves a few pesos every time they
hit or shook their child. They put an empty tin can on a shelf
to hold the money. At first, almost every parent was putting
money in the tin can every day. But the fines helped them to
stop and think before they hit or shook their children.
Maria always grabs things
from her sisters. They let
her do it because she is
little. But she is getting
bigger and she should
know better.
Hugo used to do that. I found
myself hitting him a lot, but
I couldn’t explain why it was
wrong. I used to feel angry and
sad at the same time.
It is getting
better as
we learn to
communicate.
But it takes so
long to learn! I
try hard not to
get angry.
As they tried new methods and improved their communication
skills, they noticed that their children were behaving better. At the
beginning, it did not seem easy to change how they disciplined their
children, but now they almost never hit or shake them.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)