According to current research, quality relationships with adults and peers make a tremendous difference for young people. A sense of connection or belonging is an important protective factor. Students who perceive a sense of connectedness or community at school and/or home are more likely to be successful academically and less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, and violence.  Young people who grow up in families that they perceive as both kind and firm are more likely to thrive. See full research click here.

Positive Discipline is one of the most effective parenting program that helps children develop valuable life skills for success.

Positive Discipline is based on the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs and is designed to teach young people to become responsible, respectful and resourceful members of their communities. Positive Discipline teaches important social and life skills in a manner that is deeply respectful and encouraging for both children and adults. It helps children learn self-discipline, responsibility, cooperation, and problem-solving skills – Dr. Jane Nelson

The Positive Discipline Parenting Model is based on the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs. Alfred Adler (1870 – 1937) was a Viennese psychiatrist who immigrated to the United States. Though a contemporary of Freud, he promoted a substantially different view of human behavior. Adler believed that behavior is not driven by events in the past, but moves toward a goal of belonging and significance that is influenced by each individuals decisions about themselves, others, and the world. Rudolf Dreikurs (1897 – 1972), also a Viennese psychiatrist, was the director of one of the child guidance centers in Vienna that used Adlers methods with families and classrooms.

He immigrated to the United States to avoid Nazi persecution in 1937, earlier in his career than Adler.

Dreikurs was one of the first people to recognize the benefits of groups in therapy. He was a tireless advocate for relationships based on mutual respect, both at home and at school.

Dr. Adler first introduced the idea of parenting education to United States audiences in the 1920s. He advocated treating children respectfully, but also argued that spoiling and pampering children was not encouraging to them and resulted in social and behavioral problems.

In the 1980s, Lynn Lott and Jane Nelsen attended a positive discipline workshop and have since then taught numerous parenting and classroom management classes, and published several books and manuals on positive discipline.