my view on dicipline

I have three children aging from 6 months, 4 years, and 10 years. Now I would never pretend to be the perfect parent but I would like to think I do the best job I can. Through the years I have found a few very important things that will improve

your and your childrens' quality of life. First off is love and I don't just mean sitting around saying my kids know I love them, what I am talking about is telling your children multipal times a day that you love them, even when you are so mad that you see red, before handing out punishment make sure they know this dosen't affect your love for them.  The second thing I have learned is that violence breeds violence, if you want your children to truly RESPECT you as opposed to fear then hitting is not the answer, and this also goes back to love, when children step out of line it is usually a sign that there is a underlining problem, it may be need for more attention and what some parrents do not realize is getting angry and hitting is still attention, so your children my take the view that at least when you are whipping them they have your full attention. So common sence tells you that the problems will get worse because that is there way of getting your attention. I guess what I am trying to say is maybe you should take a different approach, in my case I have found a three step approach that works very well for me 1st set the rules and punishment as soon as they are able to comprehend what you are saying to them, and stick to it, that way they know what the rules are and what will happen if they break them. 2nd When they break the rules have a conversation with them, make them tell you what rule they broke and explain to them why they shouldn't have broken that rule. 3rd NEVER tell a child tey are bad instead tell them that there actions have disapointed you, by doing this you are showing them that in order to earn your trust and respect that they must follow the rules. 3rd TELL THEM THAT YOU LOVE THEM. oh I forgot there is a 4th Always reward good behaivor, I have found that reward for good behaivor greatly decreases bad behavior.

Thank You

Carl