Some wisdom from Alfred Adler

Any sort of behavior changes should have some sort of scientific, moral, or ethical support. If not, people are just doing things to do thing and chaos ensues. Positive Discipline uses the second chapter to introduce some of the basic concepts that will help readers understand the practical applications. These concepts allow us to reflect more about what we do and come up with our own ideas.

Positive Discipline takes a lot from the ideas of Alfred Adler, an Austrian of Jewish descent who fled the Nazis to continue working as a psychologist. The book explains eight of his concepts in great detail. I am simply going to list them because it is easy to find excellent explanations in Positive Discipline or online.

Basic Adlerian Concepts

1. Children are social beings
2. Behavior is goal oriented
3. A child’s primary goal is to belong and feel significant
4. A misbehaving child is a discourage child
5. Gemeinschaftsgefühl – Social responsibility or community feeling
6. Equality
7. Mistakes are wonderful opportunities to learn
8. Make sure the message of love gets through