Little Beginnings Child Development Center

What is Conscious Discipline?

Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive social and emotional intelligence classroom management program that empowers both teachers and students. Based on current brain research, child development information and developmentally appropriate practices, the goal of this program is to provide systematic changes in schools by fostering the emotional intelligence of teachers first and students second.

Current brain research indicates fear is detrimental to optimal learning and brain development. No one would think of relying on fear or threats to teach reading, writing or math. Yet we persist in relying on fear when it comes to teaching discipline and guiding children to become socially competent members of a group.

There is another way. Conscious Discipline offers a relationship-based community model of classroom management. The key is a sense of community. The School Family is the core of the program. The School Family is held together by communication skills. These skills are taught during conflict moments in the classroom and through active learning lessons. The goal of the school family is to create problem-solvers. If the school family fails to promote pro-social behavior, rules and consequences are implemented to motivate children to use the socially acceptable communication skills being taught. Love, expressed through safety, cooperation and respect, is the tool used to imbue the system with power. Both teachers and students are empowered to control themselves and to relate to others.

The system is based on three major premises:

Controlling and changing ourselves is possible and has profound impact on others Connectedness governs behavior Conflict is an opportunity to teach

We have adopted this program to guide us in creating loving classroom communities. The Conscious Discipline program is one we can teach teachers. It is fully in keeping with both developmentally appropriate practices as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The problem-solving skills we are teaching children are fundamentally commonsensical and very similar to what we are doing with High/Scope. The key differences are the focus on the teachers frame of mind as she approaches difficult sessions and the many active learning lessons we can incorporate into our daily routine.

Our director, Mandy Lloyd, is a certified Conscious Discipline Instructor and offers parent workshops throughout the year to teach parents how to use the Conscious Discipline program at home to further strengthen the connection between home and school. at least one of our in-service days is committed to training our staff in Conscious Discipline skills.

Conscious Discipline starts with the adults because how we, as adults, discipline ourselves is how we discipline our children. How we discipline our children is how they then discipline themselves. Are you willing to learn a different way?