Lately, Georgie’s been trying my patience. There are moments when it’s like I’m not even there, like my voice cannot be heard, like I have to do a silly dance or scream ‘F@£%’ at the top of my lungs. I actually haven’t tried that yet. Instead I thought I’d try a less crazy and more creative route.
I’m a firm believer in time-outs but after a quick chat with a fellow parent and some good old-fashioned online research I found there are far too many brilliant and innovative ways to deal with disobedient kids than just making them sit on a chair for a few minutes. Over the weekend, I devised a plan and sat down with Georgie, doing my best, to explain some basic rules. It went something like this:
– For every ‘naughty’ act you must go to bed five minutes earlier. If you’re good, you can stay up five more minutes.
– If you decide to have a tantrum in public or anywhere else, I will tell you to hold your tongue and you must literally do it with your thumb and forefinger!
– Make sure you tidy up properly when you’re told to do so. If there are items left out of boxes and baskets, I will take them away and put them in jail! You will have to do a chore to get them out.
– Also try not to ‘forget’ to pick up your toys otherwise I will pick them up for you and hide them. When you look for them, finding them won’t be easy because mummy knows how to hide things really well. So don’t ‘forget’.
– Stomping your feet, sulking and crying for no reason will not be tolerated. If you insist on doing so, I will make you go outside and do it, come rain or shine.
– You dawdle too much and I don’t want you to be distracted so I’ll be setting a timer when I want you to finish a chore. If you haven’t finished by then there may be another chore coming your way or perhaps no TV for today or you won’t get to play with your friends this afternoon or you can’t help mummy prepare dinner.
– When you complain that you’re bored, I will bring out my Job Jar. It is full of pieces of paper onto which I have written chores you could do so you’re never bored.
– Every minute wasted on not listening before bathtime and bedtime is time deducted from playtime in the bath and reading time with mummy.
So far, the last one is an absolute winner as Georgie treasures his time in the bath and reading before the lights go out. Yay to no more repeating and yelling! He was also sent outside when he began sulking only to stop and begin laughing. I should mention that I have mixed and matched consequences and actions so last week when Georgie refused to eat his lunch and tidy up his toys, his one hour of cartoons was cancelled.
While some of these are amusing and you probably won’t be able to keep a straight face, the point of them is to teach children that consequences exist. I’ve found that there is absolutely no reason in implementing any form of discipline if you do not plan on following through each and every single time. As hard as it is, consistency is key. Find and figure out a plan that works for you and your family and stick to it. Remember to keep your child’s age in mind.
Many of these ideas were taken from Lisa Whelchel’s book, Creative Correction . I have not read the book, however a number of reviews I have read mention that Whelchel’s methods may be too extreme. Let me know what you think if you’ve read it or heard of it.
