I heard a couple of punches fly and then Oliver came into the kitchen and put an icepack on his arm. I hated to, but I asked him what happened and he told me that he'd been beaten to death, again. I made inquiries and understood that spit had flown previously to the punch.
Here's what I said,
From now on, if a punch or spit flies, I get $5. Effective immediately.
I stood there, in the doorway, and collected $15.00.
Not a bad day's work.
Reader, tell me your effective parenting strategies. I'm all ears and filled pockets.
That sounds perfect. And no debates and no "He did this and he did this." I commend you.
ReplyDeleteAnd they gave it to you, just like that? Come over to my house.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if this would work (but I am trying it in our house). I read about it in the book Adulting. If an argument is happening and one child says "drop the banana" and walks away (calmly and without comment) and successfully ends the fight then that kid gets a reward. We are still discussing what a legitimate reward might look like. I also know another mom who puts 5$ worth of quarters in a bowl every week and she removes a quarter for every argument and what is leaft at the end of the week can be used by the kids in a way they choose (I think this would work better with smaller kids).
ReplyDeleteI bow down to you, woman! Look at that room. And money paid, to boot!
ReplyDeletei can't believed they paid you! Excellent. I would put it in a wine fund. But then I put everything in a wine fund.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be happy to know that once they are well into their 20s , you'll begin developing some weird sort of parental amnesia.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the going rate for other bodily fluids?
ReplyDeleteGive them both karate lessons then tell them to "take it outside". You don't want blood splattered around the house.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
A little like that.
ReplyDeleteP.S. What's that one little wrapper still doing on the floor. $1.00.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a boy thing. My dad tells stories of growing up with 2 brothers and they were just awful to each other. Once the oldest and youngest brother gagged and tied up my dad and put him in a closer all day. They let him out before their parents got home. My kids fight but so far, no blood.
ReplyDeleteLOL -- sounds like you hit upon the perfect solution. It won't stop conflict but might put a damper on it. A certain amount of spit and punches are going to happen no matter what. I have a brother, and that's just what brothers do!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I am LOVING that solution!!
ReplyDeleteI love that one. My parenting techniques are sometimes pretty diabolical so this $$ idea is right up my alley. One of my most successful moves is when there is complaining about doing something I say "ok, if you don't want to do that right now you can do it right now AND tomorrow too" or "you want to stay out until midnight and I originally said 11pm, how about you come home at 10:30". Those types of things worked wonders!!
ReplyDeleteNot my trick, I got it from my mom, but she taught me a very valuable lesson when I was about 5 years old. I had been tormenting my little sister since she had been so rude as to move into the house. She said she was going to get me back. I told Mom and Dad. They said if I didn't stop being mean to her I'd deserve it. I didn't stop, and one day she grabbed me by the ears with all her little toddler might and dropped to her knees, dragging me down with her. It really hurt. And I stopped bothering her. broken pipe water damage Los Angeles
ReplyDeleteI've done something similar, and given extra chores to the offender, which worked a lot better than, say, denying something.
ReplyDeleteI've threatened that money will be charged w/ the next infraction... it stops said infraction from happening every time, I have a boy and a girl so physical damage hasn't been an issue .... I would definitely be charging if ice packs were needed!
ReplyDelete