...in the world record for the longest time out. Unbelievably, the children were messing around in their beds again, at nap time. Total elapsed time out is nearing 4 hours. Seriously. It seems extreme, but I'm afraid I'll lose my cool if I so much as look at them. At least they're safe in their corners.
This is getting REALLY old. I am completely out of ideas. For the two who were in trouble last night (the 4th night in a row), they had plain toast for breakfast while the rest of us had donuts this morning. Usually loss of food is a pretty strong motivator for Bubba. But at nap time today, the temptation to climb up the bunk bed and play with Bobcat was just too strong. Original sin in its purest form, right? I think I can understand why God was always smiting people back in the day.
So, I was planning to make them run laps after dinner, but it's raining. I guess that doesn't have to stop us though. Bobcat still can't run (two more weeks of limited activity on the healing leg), but he could walk. I told them in my best scary dad voice, "You're not tired enough to sleep??? Believe me, you will be BEGGING to go to bed when we're finished tonight!"
What other creative punishments have you devised?
Monday, September 3, 2007
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6 comments:
I have threatened loss of pillows before. That put the fear do God into them! (Hee, hee)
Seriously, I have no idea how you would do this, but the only thing that ever worked for us when siblings liked to par-tay... take away the siblings. Separate beds, rooms, sleeping bags, whatever! They hated being alone more than they loved to be wild.
What really works is when the other kids take note of the action, and decide, "hmm, they really mean it this time." Seven-year-old Jon had one of his longest timeouts in a long time today, about three hours. He was fine for the rest of the day, and, just as important, so was his six-year-old brother.
With 8 in the house, my best one was, "whoever doesn't go to sleep right this minute will get up with me in the morning." As I was up before the kids (only by minutes usually), they assumed I was up before the sun and settled down right away!!
Cynthia
http://mygreat8.com
What about giving them a chore for each time you have to tell them to go to bed and be quiet?
When our oldest birth son was 5, he stayed up till the wee hours which exhausted me (dh was deployed) and I was pg with our third. I got up at o'dark thirty (sunrise) and woke our son up. He had chores all day, wasn't allowed to nap and had to stay up late that night....no fun, no playing, lots of calisthentics, chores to do, and when not doing chores he was at my side the remainder of the day. Fortunately for us both, he learned the lesson.
We have also resorted to removing beddimg items from the bedroom for other children who haven't been so compliant.
I'll be praying for you!
We've taken their beds out of the room. Of course, we were able to because they were sleeping in toddler beds. Even now, knowing they would have to sleep on the floor with no blankies, lovies or even a pillow sometimes gets them to go to sleep. Sometimes.
Good luck. I'm thinking about getting an alarm for my kids' room. How would they like it if an annoying alarm woke them up at some ungodly hour? Of course, this might backfire in that no sleep makes for cranky kids.
I dunno. *sigh*
We seperate ours when they won't cooperate. One will have to sleep in the entryway. I always seperate them for nap times though. The girls don't always sleep these days, and I'm okay with them playing quietly in their room. The boys have to be seperate though. That is all I have to offer. Good luck!
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