Discipline is one such aspect of life that has been constant for centuries. In very simple words, discipline involves rule-following behaviour by people, where there is order, control and authority. Discipline is what makes a person a good human being. The value of discipline is very important in any individual’s life. More so, the importance of discipline in a student’s life is what makes them successful and stand out in the real world.
Discipline helps in regulating one’s behaviour and keeping one in charge of what they are doing. The role of discipline in a student’s life keeps them active and in tune with their academics. It creates a sense of responsibility and a feeling of accomplishment for the students.
Table of Contents
- Value of Discipline In Life
- 5 Benefits of Having Self-Discipline and Its Importance
1. Self-Discipline Is the Key to Success
2. It Keeps an Individual Motivated
3. It Improves Academic Performance
4. It Helps in the Management of Time
5. It Helps in Reducing Stress - Examples of Self-Discipline for Students
- How To Be Disciplined in Studies?
- How can we teach discipline to our students? -Techniques for parents
Importance of discipline in student’s life
For a student having a disciplined life can do wonders for them. It can make them attentive and focused and improve their overall academic performance. It helps in the long run-up. Having discipline as a personality trait can ensure honesty, motivation and a positive outlook toward life. Having a disciplined life can help students in looking at difficult tasks, not as a menace but as challenges that they critically and rationally try to solve.
Value of Discipline In Life
The most common question that parents have is, what is the value of discipline in student life? Self-discipline for students has multiple benefits. First and foremost, discipline creates greatness. When there is consistency and regularity in students’ work ethic, it is bound to bring a lot of great results.
A study by Moffitt et al. (2011) shows that kids who have a high level of self-discipline in preschool and primary school were more likely to have less substance use problems, fewer health problems and were better at handling their personal finances.
Lack of discipline might lead to poor academic performance, engaging in unhealthy behaviours and lack of concentration and focus in life. Not having a disciplined life can also lead to a lot of problems in the long run-up.
5 Benefits of Having Self-Discipline and Its Importance
1. Self-Discipline Is the Key to Success
- Having self-discipline ensures having an organized and positive outlook toward life. The importance of discipline for students has multiple benefits, with one of them being the key to succe in life.
Disciplined Students are efficient and consistent in the work they do, whether it is academics or extracurriculars. - This consistency and hard work are what takes the student to achieve great heights.
- Self-discipline examples for students can involve having a set routine and following it regularly, waking up on time and completing the assigned tasks, and working consecutively towards one’s goals. All these aspects can make an Individual’s life.
2. It Keeps an Individual Motivated
- Discipline helps in maintaining regularity, hence even the difficult tasks are taken up as challenges to be solved by children.
- Having discipline in life keeps students motivated to work in their best capacity and give in their hundred per cent as their fire of motivation keeps burning.
3. It Improves Academic Performance
- When there is a better focus, there is regularity in one’s work. Discipline ensures that these two things go hand in hand. Once children understand the importance of discipline for students, they can work towards their betterment.
- Years of research have shown that students who live a disciplined life, where they complete their work on time, participate in class, and follow the rules and regulations have better academic performance in their class.
- Such students are most likely to be in the top 1% of their class as they know how to handle their workload.
4. It Helps in the Management of Time
- Disciplined students understand the importance of time and don’t believe in wasting it. Children who understand the value of discipline in life, have a set routine and do things accordingly.
- This improves their concentration level and motivates them to do better. They don’t look at things as burdens but rather enjoy doing them.
- With time, students who understand the benefits of discipline become accustomed to completing work on time and managing their time efficiently.
Disciplined students understand the importance of time and don’t believe in wasting it. Children who understand the value of discipline in life, have a set routine and do things accordingly.5. It Helps in Reducing Stress
Students who regard discipline as an important thing in their life, do things with a lot of planning and organization which actually helps in avoiding any last-minute chaos.
- Children who complete their work on time and do not let it burden them till the end, live rather stress-free than those who let their work pile up.
- For example- subjects like mathematics require a lot of practice and if not done consistently can lead to a lot of stress, hence a student who understands the value of discipline will work consistently and that will not lead to stress at the last moment.
- Subjects like social sciences also require regular coursework and reading up of materials, discipline in students ensures that they go through their required coursework every day and not let it stress up till the last moment.
Examples of Self-Discipline for Students:
- Completing the assigned homework and assignments for the day before watching one’s favourite show on television
- Reaching school and class on time.
- Practising self-control in things that might cause more harm than good, for example controlling one’s urge to eat junk food all the time.
- Self-discipline for students can involve completing their coursework on time before exams to avoid any last-minute chaos.
- Obeying rules and regulations and practising consistently to build up one’s skills and abilities can act as a guide to self-discipline.
So, the question arises,
How To Be Disciplined in Studies?
- Having a designated study area can help in keeping distractions away and help the student in building better focus, which is the base of the discipline.
- Practising self-control like not using a mobile phone while completing an assignment or going out to play with friends during study time can help instil the value of discipline.
- Parents should help their children in setting deadlines for themselves for completing their assignments and tasks.
- Instilling the habit of note-taking can go a long way in developing self-discipline in students as it helps in keeping a log of whatever is done in class or other classes and in studying.
- Taking regular breaks can help students not be burnt out and keep their focus on the goals at hand.
Discipline is an art that has to be practised. Children should keep these above points in their mind to ensure self-discipline in their life as it is the key to success in future.
While self-discipline is something that students master themselves, it is important for parents to teach their children the importance of discipline early on as that can work for their benefit in the long run-up. Various research studies have pointed out the following techniques as being useful in teaching children discipline.
Practicing time out-
Whenever children misbehave or break rules, it is important to remind them what they did wrong and make them realise the consequences they can have if they repeat that mistake. This technique of discipline involves taking away all privileges of the child when they misbehave. This will instil a sense of discipline among them and help them in learning and differentiating between right and wrong behaviour. This will also teach children self-regulation and self-management skills. This useful and informative video by a paediatrician explains how to give effective time outs-
Setting rules and regulations-
Having firm and clear rules can help children learn about what is right and wrong, along with what behaviour is acceptable and not acceptable. This will teach children discipline in their lives and lead healthy and happy lives.
Reinforce good behaviour-
The basics of developing discipline in children are reinforcing their good behaviour. This helps them in distinguishing between right and wrong and when good, disciplined behaviour is rewarded, they are more likely to repeat that behaviour.
Some of the ways in which reinforcement can be used to teach discipline include.
- Using positive reinforcement such as clapping, praising, and hugging when a child behaves in a disciplined manner. This will encourage the repetition of that behaviour more often.
- Being consistent in your approach towards providing rewards will help in developing trust with the child and make them value the rewards they get.
- Excessive rewards may even lose the importance of that particular behaviour as the child may start taking things for granted.
Manage your parenting style-
Learning about different parenting styles and how to use what strategy and approach when can be a very effective strategy in disciplining kids. There are four main types of parenting styles ranging from-
- Authoritarian parenting
- Authoritative parenting
- Permissive parenting
- Uninvolved parenting
Understanding the importance of each parenting style can prove to be beneficial when you are thinking about disciplining children in different situations.
This pdf details different types of parenting styles and their impact on the child’s behaviour
Avoid nagging behaviour-
Nagging behaviour which is defined as continuously pestering, harassing, and forcing an individual to complete previous requests can completely defeat the purpose of disciplining students. While this is something most commonly adopted by parents to make their children work, it can work oppositely and make children even more rebellious. Hence, it is important to stay away from nagging children when parents are trying to teach them discipline.
There are various negative consequences of nagging behaviour, which can include the following-
- It can make the child lose their self-esteem and confidence, as nagging may be demeaning to the child.
- It can lead to anxiety, fatigue and feelings of restlessness among children.
- Children can become rebellious as a way of escaping the nagging behaviour of parents.
- Nagging does not accomplish the goal of discipline rather deters from it and makes children angry and leads to a strained relationship between the child and parents.
This very informative article talks about ways in which a child can be disciplined without yelling and nagging-
For additional resources check out this research article that details how children of different age groups can be disciplined.
CONCLUSION
To conclude discipline is extremely important to attain success in life. It can help in creating balanced, informed and well-educated adults who are socially and self-aware and are able to deal with different challenges of life. It is imperative for both parents and students to understand its importance in order to implement it in their life.
FAQs
Discipline can help in streamlining the life of an individual. It can help in reducing stress, managing time, keeping one motivated, improving academic performance and becoming successful in life.
Discipline creates consistency and regularity in students’ work life and brings lots of great results. It improves concentration levels and academic performance. Discipline helps in creating greatness.
In order to be disciplined, it is important to practice self-control, have a designated study area to keep all distractions away, take regular breaks to avoid burn out and have a routine and organized schedule.
Discipline brings better focus and concentration. Children who are disciplined are able to complete work on time, follow rules and participate in class. It helps in improving academic performance as children know how to handle their workload.
Discipline ensures that students complete their work on time with a lot of planning and organization. This does not lead to last-minute burdens and students are able to live stress-free without the burden of doing things at the last minute.
