what are the ways to discipline a child without having to resort to beating?

If they are a tennager then being caught smoking.drinking, taking drugs, having under age sex they need to know the consequences, the impact it will have on their long-term health, their career, their relationships. No matter how you discipline your child, there is always someone outside the family that may attempt to ruin all your hard work. That uncle who comes to visit now and again, happy and easy going with a beer in his hand, will be enough to make your child think that drinking is cool and that his uncle is doing ok with a beer in his hand. Or the family friend— who talks about how her latest medication from her doctor ‘makes her feel fantastic and she is no longer unhappy— will set your child thinking pills are the answer to everything. How you behave, reflects how your children will turn out. If you shout and argue down the phone or to your partner, your children will think its ok to do it, especially if the rant gets results.