Creative Consequences? Share yours please.

[SKL]

So I have a strong-willed kid (age 5) who isn't easily awed. She's been doing X (minor but unacceptable) too frequently lately and not really responding to discipline. Yesterday it happened again, and my punishment is: I will choose her school outfits every day next week. ;) She can "earn back" Thursday and Friday if she toes the line Monday thru Wednesday. Judging from the silence that followed my decree, I think this just might work.

 

What are some creative consequences that you've successfully resorted to?

[lexi]

My kids love to complain.....not like that's unusual :lol:

 

We have a child's catchers helmet. When they complain about doing something I asked, then they do the chore while wearing the helmet. They hate how cumbersome the helmet is and it works every time! The next time I ask them to do something they get it done. Of course, I have to resort to the helmet about once a week but it does buy me a few days of obedience without complaint.

 

I also keep a spray bottle of water handy. When my kids start fighting and yelling at each other I just spray in their direction. It stops their screaming fast and I don't have to say a word to get their attention. I tell them it's to "cool them off".

[Jean in Newcastle]

I don't know if this is creative or just a "natural" consequence. Dd10 is confined to our yard for the rest of the afternoon because she went to a yard sale a block away without checking with me first. I called and called her and then had to send my ds14 to search for her before we found her.

[Lily_Grace]

DS13 was put on a payment plan this year for his schoolbooks since he chose not to do the year's work in public school last year. He repeated the year at home AND had to pony up the cash for it, with the knowledge that if he chose not to do the work at home he'd be repeating (and repaying) every time until he did.

[Tasia]

I also keep a spray bottle of water handy. When my kids start fighting and yelling at each other I just spray in their direction. It stops their screaming fast and I don't have to say a word to get their attention. I tell them it's to "cool them off".

I do this when my boys wrestle and fight too. They're too big now for me to pull them apart, so a few squirts usually does the trick. :)

 

The only other "creative" consequence we have is that if any of the boys misbehave in public, they have to hold my hand for the rest of the trip. It's pretty embarrassing for 8, 9 and 11 year old boys, so it works well. :tongue_smilie:

[fhjmom]

When my kids are mean to each other, that makes me think they need a lesson in being nice to each other. Depending on where we are and the severity of the offense, they may have to hold hands (with each other) or the offender gets to serve the person offended, literally. That means the offender spends a day or two fixing snacks for the sibling, pouring their drinks, finding shoes, taking over their chores, or helping them whenever needed. That has helped with the attitudes towards each other considerably! Another poster mentioned holding hands with Mom, for an eleven year old boy I think it is even worse to be seen holding hands with your little sister! LOL!

[Lisa in SC]

I almost never post, so forgive my jumping in here. :001_smile: When my 13yo ds gets an attitude of being a bit too "big for his britches", he is assigned a number of laps to run around our block (it's a big block). I figure if he has enough energy to back talk, he must need an outlet. Plus, it's good exercise and fresh air, which are great antidotes to a foul mood. :D. P.S. I need to update siggy. Dc are now 19, 16, 13, and 6. Obviously I didn't realize how truly infrequently I post. :lol: I've updated now, but it had been 3 years since I'd done so prior to tonight.

Edited May 6, 2012 by sclisa
Updated siggy

[Gentlemommy]

Well, it's not creative but I can get my kids to do just about anything if I threaten them with staying home from the barn. We volunteer to do farm chores 2-3 times a week, and my kids LOVE to go. :tongue_smilie: The idea of missing out of feeding, watering, and mucking is incentive enough for them lol.;)

[TXMomof4]

I almost never post, so forgive my jumping in here. :001_smile: When my 13yo ds gets an attitude of being a bit too "big for his britches", he is assigned a number of laps to run around our block (it's a big block). I figure if he has enough energy to back talk, he must need an outlet. Plus, it's good exercise and fresh air, which are great antidotes to a foul mood.

 

Dh has the kids do wall-squats when they aren't listening, back talking, have a bad attitude. It's hilarious - dd8 doesn't like it. She asked Dh, "Can't you just spank us already???" another time she was outside explaining to our neighbor that her daddy was 'torturing her'. When she told them what that torturing consisted of, I think they were about to bust a gut. DD was not impressed with their lack of sympathy!

[Scuff]

When my kids are mean to each other, that makes me think they need a lesson in being nice to each other. Depending on where we are and the severity of the offense, they may have to hold hands (with each other) or the offender gets to serve the person offended, literally. That means the offender spends a day or two fixing snacks for the sibling, pouring their drinks, finding shoes, taking over their chores, or helping them whenever needed. That has helped with the attitudes towards each other considerably! Another poster mentioned holding hands with Mom, for an eleven year old boy I think it is even worse to be seen holding hands with your little sister! LOL!

 

I like this. We make them think of something nice to do for each other, but a whole day of serving the other sounds much more effective.

[mom2twoWTM]

Oh, I like this post.

 

Since our twins were little they have to sing a song to the other if they do something physical. It actually started with writing on each other's papers but the song can apply to most things. The song goes like this, "Keep my hands to myself. Don't touch anybody else (else's paper...). Unless they say it's okay, keep my hands to myself." When an issue comes up we just say "sing the song." It can be quite funny sometimes when they ham it up in public.

 

Also, when they leave something out on the counter, like the milk, they have to put it back in the fridge ten times.

 

My new personal favorite is push ups. Physical punishment tends to distract their minds. It's also a good supplement because their dance teachers tells them they need more upper body strength.

[Parrothead]

All I have to do is tell dd she won't go to dance (or if in the summer that I won't sign her up for dance). Works like a charm.

[*********]

The only other "creative" consequence we have is that if any of the boys misbehave in public, they have to hold my hand for the rest of the trip. It's pretty embarrassing for 8, 9 and 11 year old boys, so it works well. :tongue_smilie:

 

:001_huh: My nine year old son enjoys holding my hand, no matter where we are. Is that weird? I didn't think about it much before now.

 

When my kids are mean to each other, that makes me think they need a lesson in being nice to each other. Depending on where we are and the severity of the offense, they may have to hold hands (with each other) or the offender gets to serve the person offended, literally. That means the offender spends a day or two fixing snacks for the sibling, pouring their drinks, finding shoes, taking over their chores, or helping them whenever needed. That has helped with the attitudes towards each other considerably! Another poster mentioned holding hands with Mom, for an eleven year old boy I think it is even worse to be seen holding hands with your little sister! LOL!

 

This is another thing I've never thought of using as discipline. My boys help each other out all the time, whenever someone needs help. Not like, one helps the other all day but not the other way around, but still.

 

My family must be weird. :tongue_smilie:

[ChristusG]

When middle DD was late 3 or early 4 years old she went through a hitting phase. Finally I was tired of it and told her that nice she was hitting, we would have to put something soft on her hands so she didn't hurt anyone. Next time it happened I pulled out a pair of mittens. I told her she had to wear them for an hour. You'd think I'd just cut off her hands judging by the amount of crying that followed during that hour. She held her hands out in front of her and wouldn't touch anything lol. After that I just reminded her about wearing the mittens. I think she only had to wer them one other time.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Ds was mooning in school a few years ago (not bare butt mooning, more like showing off his undies). The consequence, if he did it again, was that the following day in school he was going to have to wear pink Dora ballerina panties! I knew there was no way he would want others to see them. It worked, and he never mooned (in school) after i bought the panties.

[fhjmom]

:001_huh: My nine year old son enjoys holding my hand, no matter where we are. Is that weird? I didn't think about it much before now.

 

 

 

This is another thing I've never thought of using as discipline. My boys help each other out all the time, whenever someone needs help. Not like, one helps the other all day but not the other way around, but still.

 

My family must be weird. :tongue_smilie:

 

My kids do help each other regularly, but things are especially confrontational at times between DS (11) and DD (8). I think it is sometimes worse between opposite sex siblings. When I say they "serve" each other, I mean they do much more than just helping them out, although that is included. The offender becomes like a personal butler for the day. It really is about the only thing I have found that has worked to ease up on DS just being rude and ugly to DD. :p getting a barb or two in just isn't worth having to wait on her for hours at a time!

[6wishes]

Thanks for this post! Lots of creative suggestions I'm going to try :)!