Meet the single mum who has never punished or rewarded her kids

  • 2 years ago
Meet the single mum who has never punished or rewarded her kids and says she never will. Hannah Canavan, 33, decided to have a gentle approach to parenting after working in a pupil referral unit for troubled children - which saw her giving natural consequences rather than punishment which, she says, helped their behaviour. Hannah - who home educates her daughters Esmae, 11, Eira, nine, and Elfie, seven - chose to adopt the same technique when raising her brood. Rather than shouting and taking away their iPad or a treat for doing something wrong she will calmly explain why something isn’t right. Hannah, a home education coach, from South London, said: “I have never punished or rewarded my children, and it really works for me. “If you look at the prison system you can see punishment doesn’t work as there wouldn’t be second of third-time offenders there if that was the case. “People think that my kids must misbehave because I don’t punish them but that’s not the case at all. “Because I don’t shout or take something away from them, they’re not scared off me. “They respect me and listen to me because I’ll calmly explain why they shouldn’t do something, and they learn from it.” Hannah has never punished her children - even when they were young. For Hannah, keeping her household a punishment and reward-free space has kept her family close.

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