What do you do?
What do you do when your four year old scratches her two year old sister all over the face?
What do you do when you sit down and ask your four year old what possessed her to do such a thing, and her answer is, "I just felt like it."
After some quick soul searching, don't have much time to think on the spur of the moment, I decided to pull out the ole' consequence jar. I thought, 'Rich and I don't really spank the cuties, but she needs to understand the severity of her actions. I think some good hard work will do the trick; she can think about what she is done while she works, after of course apologizing and hugging and kisses her little sister.'
So here is the accused, cleaning the baseboards in our dining room; I may have possibly, perhaps, a very good possiblity, most definitely, arranged it, so she got a harder job (gives her more time to think about what she has done, it's not supposed to be easy after all).
1 comments:
Oh, Dear! What is difficult for us in dealing with teens is that 1) they "felt like it," 2) they knew there was going to be a consequence, 3) they deliberated the pros and cons, and 4) they decided the act outweighed the consequence. The challenge has been finding consequences that cause the enough discomfort that they won't do it again. Cleaning the baseboards is something we do as well for "extra jobs" and/or punishment. I also like pulling weeds...anything that they wouldn't typically have to do to emphasise that they're in trouble. You're doing a good job! Although, I personally, am not opposed to a swift swat on the boo-heiney as long as it's not done in anger. Being a parent is HARD!!!!!
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