Positive parenting refers to disciplining your child. The flipside of the equation is that negative parenting refers to punishing your child.

But aren't punishing and discipline the same thing? Not at all. Disciplining refers to guiding your child through life and showing him what is right and what is wrong, all the while using consequences to keep him on the best path.

Consequences are logical outcomes of your child's action. Suppose your son uses the computer when he is not supposed to. A consequence would be that he does not use the computer for the rest of the week. Notice that the consequence relates back to the misbehavior.

This is key because when your son thinks about why he can't use the computer he should associate it with his action.  The goal is to make the connection in his mind so there is some kind of learning experience going on.  Connect the action with the consequence.

Now if we look at the same example and tell your son he can't play with his video games, there will be a disconnect between him using the computer when he shouldn't have and his lack of video games.  So he endures this 'no video game' punishment without a the learning experience. 

If you continue to give him punishments and not consequences, he comes to see that he is always losing privileges but doesn't connect them with his actions.  Especially if you give him the same punishment more than once for different misbehaviors.

Understanding consequences is the important part here.  If the consequence is poorly chosen, then it becomes a punishment.  Instead of correcting your son's behavior, he will probably come to resent you and his restrictions.  What you really want to establish in your son's mind is that you have set up limits for him and he will have appropriate consequences if he exceeds them.

While it can be easy to apply correct consequences once you see the difference, there are a lot parents who make mistakes.  I've worked with many parents over the years and I've documented the #1 mistake that parents make using consequence.  Then I put together a free video to show you what I've learned.

It a short video and yes it is free.  Please have a look at my website.  You'll improve your positive parenting skills and understand better that disciplining your child is NOT the same as punishing your child.