Discipline
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Parental DisciplineParental discipline is the primary source of discipline that you're going to find on Southern Comfort. It is, however, a little bit complicated, because not all of the children on Southern Comfort have families. I recommend reading our files on adoption in order to better understand the way that this process works. There is a full complement of files located on that tab to help you work through how the process of going from group home resident to foster child to adopted child works!
In the meantime, we use the term "parental discipline" to refer to any discipline administered by a person in a parent-like role. This includes biological, adoptive and foster parents as well as group home guardians and house parents at St. Jude's. Even so, there are differences in the way that each of these roles works in terms of discipline where the children are concerned, and I'd like to break them down (on this page rather than on separate pages) in order to help you decide which adult roles you prefer to play and to help you understand where the limits of the discipline you'll receive are. ParentsFor clarification, we are using the term "parents" to refer to all parents, biological, adoptive or foster parents (in private home placements). All parents have the same set of "rights" here on Southern Comfort regardless of the status of the children living in the home, and this is something that those playing children will want to take into consideration when thinking about undergoing the adoption process. There is nothing wrong with staying in a group home if this isn't for you!
The key thing to consider with parental discipline is that parents in all three categories (biological, adoptive and foster parents) are permitted to use any of the different types of discipline that we have listed, providing that they adhere to the limits that you've laid out for them when you joined the group (or if you've edited them since then). This means that parents may use both physical (traditional, non-traditional and alternative) discipline as well as non-physical, or gentle (written punishments, humiliation, work punishments and restrictions) discipline. Parents, in particular, are encouraged to use punishment in a way intended to discipline the player for poor behavior (such as bratting). We as the staff recommend that players of children and teenagers take the time to negotiate and communicate with their character's parental figures early on in their time at Southern Comfort. GuardiansAt Southern Comfort, the term "guardian" refers to a person who works at one of the group homes in the town or as a house parent at St. Jude's. These people have authority over the children or teens they care for, but there are some lines which should not be crossed by guardians. The reason that we don't like to see these lines crossed is ultimately because we feel that the bonding process with future foster or adoptive parents may be interrupted by using harsher or more personal forms of discipline during this phase of the process.
We also make the assertion that guardian figures should not feel obligated to use intimate disciplines on children or teens who they have not personally chosen to make part of their lives. For this reason we recommend restricting all guardian discipline to traditional physical punishment and written punishments. In this way you can ensure that your adult guardian character doesn't cross any unacceptable lines. Like with parents, children and teen players are highly recommended to take the time necessary to negotiate physical punishments in advance with the adults who are in charge of them. This should be done on a case-by-case basis as one teen or child could have several guardian figures in his or her life. Please note that sibling placements count as parents/foster parents rather than as guardians for our purposes! One Final NoteWhen choosing an adoptive or foster family (or deciding whether a child or teenager fits with an established family) it is crucial that all parties involved assess the disciplinary practices of the family or the person joining the family to ensure the best possible match. While we do encourage you to negotiate things ahead of time, we also want to establish for our members that in families, it is the parents who are in charge and not the children. As much as you may want certain things to be part of your family's practice, that isn't up to you as the player of the child or teenager, and you may occasionally get punished when you don't feel like you deserve it. That's life in roleplay and in the real world.
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