Timeouts don't work with my kids... 3 boys... even if I put them in different corners, they'll be giving signals at each other and just doing stupid things...
Plus, experience shows, regardless of punishment, they just repeat it... The only punishment they *ahem* respect *ahem* is pain.
The "go to your room" is stupid... too many toys in there.
The "sit at the table until you finish your food" sort of works... about 50% of the time, they do eat it... the rest, the food just stays there for some 2 hours... until they really need to go to bed (dinner), or we need to go some place else (lunch)... it can be a frustrating waste of good food.
Most of the time, I end up revoking the computer and TV rights... with the computer, it's relatively easy to enforce, but the tv... if I punish one, then all suffer the same punishment, and that comes off as worse than the alternative.
But the first resort is always a nice shout out. "set the table, please".... "hey, guys, set the table!".... "TV OFF! TABLE, NOW!!"
Plus, experience shows, regardless of punishment, they just repeat it... The only punishment they *ahem* respect *ahem* is pain.
The "go to your room" is stupid... too many toys in there.
The "sit at the table until you finish your food" sort of works... about 50% of the time, they do eat it... the rest, the food just stays there for some 2 hours... until they really need to go to bed (dinner), or we need to go some place else (lunch)... it can be a frustrating waste of good food.
Most of the time, I end up revoking the computer and TV rights... with the computer, it's relatively easy to enforce, but the tv... if I punish one, then all suffer the same punishment, and that comes off as worse than the alternative.
But the first resort is always a nice shout out. "set the table, please".... "hey, guys, set the table!".... "TV OFF! TABLE, NOW!!"
