This morning our 10 year old did not screw on the mustard lid on our industrial sized mustard bottle. So when getting his sandwich out of the fridge the mustard bottle dumped out and we lost about half of it - over 4 cups of mustard on the floor. Trying to think of a good punishment for him because I had stood there and told him about 10 times to considerate on what he was doing, and make sure he put the lid on and did not drop the mustard. He was having a morning where he decided that dancing around and singing was more important than paying attention to what he was doing. He then tried to blame his sister, even though she made her lunch first and even he had to admit there was no way it could be her fault. James did the usual - no computer or other video games. I have come up with a much better "punishment". Usually the kids have to load or unload the dishwasher once a day (It usually is once every couple of days). Nic hates this chore. Now he gets to do both load and unload all week. We are also going to teach him how to hand wash dishes. It is something he needs to know. Each day he can do a small load of hand wash dishes (with me so they actually get clean). It gives him some much needed life skills and a bit more responsibility. So instead of getting a negative "punishment" that takes away from him, which by the way does not seem to work at all, maybe a "punishment" that increases his life skills will stick so he starts paying attention to what he is doing. ARG! Why do kids not pay attention to what they are doing and then we end up with an "accident" that did not have to happen. We keep trying to get him to understand that paying attention to what we are doing is very important. It is a skill he needs to learn. How many car accidents have been caused by people not paying attention. We want him to understand that being aware of what is going on is really important.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:39:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015