• grumpy face disciplineMy children truly know how to push my buttons.  They know every little trick that will get me riled up and angry.  I have struggled to get them to stop doing all of those absurdly naughty behaviors.   I never understood why a child would work so hard to make their parents angry.   I suppose I really can see it, ids just enjoy the power of making their parents angry.  Here are some of our techniques that have worked, and some that didn’t!

    Every child is different, and respond to discipline differently.

    1.  Ignoring the bad behavior, and praising the good.  This did not exactly work for us.  I am not able to ignore my kids dancing on the tables.  However, I have met several moms who swear by this!  I imagine it might work for small offenses, whining and not sharing perhaps.

    2.  Responding, not reacting.  This sounds strange, but instead of reacting in anger to a bad behavior, I simply respond with a consequence.  This works wonderfully!

    3.  Typical time outs only work for us when I don’t talk about it much.  For example, if Ladybug whines at me, I quietly pick her up and put her in her room.  The rule is she cannot be around us if she chooses to be disrespectful.  Whenever she does something unacceptable she is instantly removed from me.

    4.  Consequences for actions.  This is a typical consequence here.  Ladybug talked back to me.  Therefore, when she wanted a cookie after lunch, I said no and explained why.

    5.  Consistency.  Stick with your decisions!

    Every child is different, and respond to discipline differently.  The key is that you ARE disciplining!  If you still have trouble talk to your pediatrician, or pick up a parenting book at the library (I recommend Have a New Kid By Friday by Dr. Leman).  Love your kids enough to sometimes say, “No.”