The Punishment Must Fit the Child

When it comes to punishing our children with an emphasis on corrective behavior it doesn't haven't to be the most boring and painful thing your child has ever been faced with. Sometimes, keeping the punishment active and caring is the best route to take. I think this discipline style is overlooked much more often than it should be.

My parents just rolled with the punches (and the hugs) and they loved us accordingly, and punished us according to what they felt was the best fit for each of us as individuals. We all want to believe that the old-fashion scapegoat "You're GROUNDED to your room!" is effective to teaching our children the difference between right and wrong. Depending on your child, it may not be though. I was active in sports, and loved playing kickball with my friends in the field next door. You would think that grounding me to my room would be punishment enough, but I also really enjoyed just sitting in my beanbag chair reading a good book, or laying on the floor putting a puzzle together. I must admit that now I see the genius in my parents punishments.

Example: The neighborhood was gathered on a warm summer night playing Hide-N-Go-Seek. My sister and I hid underneath the dirt bike trailer. We were small enough to wedge ourselves far enough to the top that no one saw us when they checked under the higher part of the trailer. Needless to say it was such a good spot that neither of us wanted to reveal the spot by crawling out as everyone gathered around to start another round. We stayed put, and we continued to hide even after everyone started to feel the panic of missing children rise in their chest. (We thought it was funny, of course.)

Long story short- She got punished with an old fashion grounding, because she hated sitting still and being cooped up. I, however, had to help dad in the garage for an entire day. (I'm the least mechanically inclined person ever, and I hated every minute of it.) So, we were both guilty of the same crime, but the punishments were two very different extremes. (I should confess that I had done this before at my grandparents house, and my Grandpa spanked me in front of all my cousins...lesson obviously NOT learned.)

Are these effective punishments? They were to us at that time in our lives. They were corrective to our behavior while fitting our personality.

Instinct screams, "You're Grounded", and that's okay. Give yourself a minute to collective your thoughts and think about the punishment. Here are some punishments I remember receiving as a child…

1. Helping dad work in the Garage.
2. Doing Yard work for the neighbors.
3. Watching my team practice from the sideline.
4. Sitting next to my parents at a school basketball game.
5. Painting the privacy fence.
6. Detail cleaning my bedroom. (Complete with dad, his pointer and white glove.)
7. Writing a two-page report. (Topic was my choice though.)
8. Picking up litter in a park.  

Oh, Happy Day!