Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Naughty boys and creative discipline

Sauce and Rufus play well together, but occasionally they fight (as all siblings do). Well, instead of yelling at them, I took the advice of my friend who suggested a time-out that took some effort. So whenever I hear them arguing, I call them into the kitchen calmly and hand them each a penny. They need to hold the penny between their nose and the wall for the duration of their time-out (anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes) and if I hear the penny drop, their time starts over. Unfortunately, it backfired on me a little bit and Hunter came into the room and asked if he could try too. I handed him a penny and he joined his giggly brothers in the new contest. My job now is to find an amount of time that actually feels like a consequence to them. At the very least, they are distracted from whatever they were fighting about!!!

Don't forget to sign in and say hi! Keep the comments coming!


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a great timeout. When I worked with Emotional/Behavioral Disorder Kids, I saw stuff like that all the time. Its amazing how effective time lost can serve as a punishment. Sometimes all the offending student had to do was sit at a certain desk with his head down. But they hated it! That's the key, give it some stigma, so Brendan won't want to join in! Love you all.
Jeff

Anonymous said...

When this is all said and done you are going to need a good 409 cleaner for your white walls. Looks like fun, can we do it with them!!

Anonymous said...

We do the nose on the wall thing but without the penny. A little over a year ago it was getting a little too easy for them to "do the time", so we upped it by making them hold their arms out perpendicular to their bodies. I wait until the shreeks are at a certain decibel level before they can be released. Interestingly Malia can outlast her older sister by quite a bit!

Leslie o' Bend

Anonymous said...

Great idea Laurie! I may just try that with our two boys! And yes, boys/siblings do argue with each other.

Love ya Tons - KK

Anonymous said...

You tried it! :) I do think the best part is that they are laughing by the end...and hopefully sorry for the arguing. Cute pics.
a.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin