Friday 10 July 2015

The right punishment for broken rules.

Enforcing discipline on a child(ren) has no age barrier, as early as 3months is a good time to discipline a child when he or she errs. Consistency is key in maintaining such discipline and sticking to rules and regulations will likely bring up a good child. 

In as much as we put everything into God's hand, God will not come down from heaven to instill discipline into the heads of our kids. He gave us a guide in the holy books as to how to raise our offspring. 

The holy book mentioned sparing the rod and spoiling the child, the western world is strongly against this method of discipline but in Africa it's quite accepted and in some cases abused. I saw a report some days ago, a young boy was flogged and got bruised by his school teacher. That's wrong on so many levels, flog a child with caution and it should never be on a regular ‎basis as it has its own side effects physically and psychologically on the growing child. I have personally given my kids a stroke of cane just for them to know it hurts and after then I resort to scaring them with using the cane on them. Believe me it works wonders when threatened, they comport themselves almost immediately and say a "Mom, i'm sorry".

Josh my oldest kid used to throw tantrums when his demands ain't met, I didn't have the patience to talk to him then since I was nursing a little baby. I simply send him to his room as a form of punishment, he goes inside and begins to play video games. Ofcos it didn't help. What helped was when I took away his game and TV set, sending him to the room eventually became boring and I had the talk with him and made him know he needed patience in life to achieve anything.

Lydia my second kid once developed a habit of grumbling when sent on an errand, this is where parents need to check their actions ‎around the kids. I was super stressed and without a maid, seeing my kids mess things up after cleaning up usually made me grumble. I first worked on myself Before correcting her. 

Esther typically is a quiet girl but loves to sing a lot and very curious as well. She wants to see the result of mixing nail polish and face powder together or what happens if body lotion is mixed with a nail desolver. How ever I talked it never worked, I scolded it didn't get better but kept giving her more inspirations on the next concoction to mix for Mommy. What eventually worked was keeping all potential specimens for her  mixture away from her reach.
Prince, he is my sweet  little terror. At 3months old we already started having problems  when he'd bite my nipples when breast feeding, as he grew older and started crawling he admired electricity plugs and wires, I calmly move him away from them and distract him with his noisy toys especially. Now he colours the wall of my living room with any stray crayons he sees, his older siblings help with the correction most times now and keeping him safe away from electricity. 

Generally, what has kept me in charge and keeping all under control is my consistency, I never slacked in making sure they abide by  my rules and letting them know the consequences. ‎Usually, it's also good to allow natural causes to teach them life lessons. E.g, when they refuse to their homework they fail. However, if your child does not seem to be learning from natural consequences ‎ set up some of your own to help change the behavior. 

It's good one lays a very good foundation of discipline Before they reach the teenage years as it'll become more difficult to impose rules on them since they are gradually becoming aware of their rights. 

It's quite impossible to know it all when it comes to choosing the right punishment to a broken rule. Please share with us your unique method of correcting your kid when he or she errs. ‎

8 comments:

  1. The right punishment to a broken rule for a child, I believe, will depend on the temperament of the child. My oldest son would prefer to kneel down, close his eyes and raise up his hands than go stay in the room. We would wail all through complaining of how scary he gets being alone in the room. Same goes for my only daughter who looks to him as a hero. She almost always tries to copy what he does and says. Though she's a month less than 2 years, she's so eloquent in speech and I am amazed at how fast she learnt to communicate. But in all, they both realise they've done wrong and apologise. My second son is calm and he hardly gets any punishment except a spank for being too playful. And when I tell him to go the room, he does it running and laughing but the room becomes a sorry sight by the time I decide to go check up what he is up to. Children, they just spice up your day...
    #abimbola

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    1. For real your 2years old speaks well? Josh didn't speak well till he was 3years. Thanks for your suggestions Abimbola.

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  2. Well d right punishment depends on d offence in my own books sha but generally I smack their bombom,I also discovered my boy fears ewedu stick,when he starts misbehavin,just show him dt stick,he'll behave immediately n they also knw when I shout their name,na smackin go follow so immediately they hear their name,na to adjust,d funny thing is a friend of mine disagrees with my ways o,her own is to pacify n threaten but I always tell her ds is Nigeria,dt one na oyinbo method,she has an eightmonth old,I've told her nobody will teach her before she starts smackin especially when you hav a boy

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    1. I strongly believe in use of cane cautiously too. Girls tend to listen to threats better but the boys will attempt to dare you. Thanks for throwing more light sweet dee.

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    2. The travails of motherhood...............

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  3. Hmm, let me learn ooo. I have a 13 month old, who is good at throwing tantrums, wen she wants something, does not want to brush her teeth, sometimes, does not want her dad to carry her, especially when she wants to breastfeed. Hmmm, how I will wean her is also a challenge, she has refused the beverage i bought oooo. God help me.

    Nice blog by the way, just opened it today after I say your comment from SDK...

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    1. I can totaly relate to this. Lol! Yes no kid likes to brush and i had major issues weaning my older son. He was that clingy too. Kids eehh!!! Lol! About discipline, i keep asking God for wisdom because its really difficult to decide the best method to use. Nobody wants an unruly child. Lovely post Naija mom!

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  4. No kid likes to bush dear, they are all like that. I guess you did exclusive breast feeding hence the clingy attitude. Thanks for stopping by.

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