You wouldn’t give someone the death penalty for running a red light, and the same rule of thumb should apply to your children’s wrongdoings. At the end of the day, you want to make sure the crime fits the punishment. For example, you don’t want to ground your 5-year-old child to his room for a week for hitting a sibling. You need to find a proper way of penalizing the child. Everybody handles things differently. But the American Academy of Family Physicians suggests using the following techniques to teach your child right from wrong. Use positive reinforcement and reward good behavior. Stickers, charts and a reward system are a great way to ensure your children behave appropriately. For younger children, rely on redirecting to distract them for something. For example, if your child is kicking the table or screaming, strike up a conversation about his or her favorite topic. Verbal instruction is a way to encourage your child to use good judgment. For younger children, time-outs seem to be the go to consequence for parents. The general rule of thumb is one minute for each year of his or her age. For older children, grounding or restricting is often in order. Say your child breaks curfew on a Friday night, then grounding the child for Saturday night would be appropriate. Last but not least, you can discipline your child by withholding privileges. Privileges are usually earned. If your child gets out of line, take away a party, a playdate or television. Depending on your child’s age, one form of punishment might be more effective then the next. You may have to experiment with trial and error.