The art of disciplining (no I haven’t figured it out yet)

Raising kids is hard; there I said it, I bet you didn’t know that. Okay, maybe you did but it is something I have to say out loud sometimes to remind myself that I am not a bad mom. I have to remember that everything my kids do is not always a reflection of how I parent them. It’s what I do in response that is important.

Lately, my little miss has been pushing ALL of my buttons. She is trying to see what she can get away with and, to be honest, it is driving me a nuts. I have tried a number of different things to discipline and some were successful and others were not. Here are a few things I have tried and what works (or not) for us.

1. Counting to three – this used to be all we needed. She just knew not to let the word three come out of my mouth. I honestly never had a consequence for the #3 because I never got there. Now that she’s four, she wants to know what will happen when I say three. Can I tell you how shocked I was when she just stood there after I said two? I didn’t know what to do. I had to do some quick thinking and come up with a punishment. This brings me to number two…

2. Sending her to her room – this is a useless action in our home. Our kids have so many toys all over the house; they just end up playing while they are in there.

3. Time Out – we tried having a naughty corner where she would have to stand for as many minutes as her age. This worked for a little while but it gets tiring having to remind them to stay there until I say they can leave. Or if they are having a really bad day, I spend half the time chasing them around the house to get them back in the corner.

4. Taking things away – this is the most effective consequence in our home. My daughter loves playing with the iPad or iPhone and when she misbehaves, she is not allowed to play with them. It is the one punishment that always works. We will warn her that if the bad behavior continues she will not be allowed to use these, the laptop, play with the most recent favorite toy and we always follow through with the threat. Since we have started this, we have noticed that the behavior has improved.

It is important to remember that every child is special and will react differently to each situation.  I would love to hear of different things that you have tried that were successful.