Parenting takes effort. But it’s also a lot of fun and the forum for more than a few hilarious moments. Part of that humour involves administering discipline upon your child–and doing so in a productive manner. Leave it to mums to get creative in their child-related endeavours. For all those times you have an “I can’t believe I just did that” moment or an “I hope no one saw that” episode–relax. They couldn’t be any ‘worse’ than these…
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Mums leveraging creative discipline
- My fourteen-year-old made us late every morning because she couldn’t decide what to wear. So I decided for her. One afternoon she came home to find two shirts and two pair of jeans in her closet. That was all she had to choose from for two weeks. Two whole weeks! She just knew her life was over. It wasn’t. We were never late again.
- My preschooler would not sit still when I put her in time-out. Feeling I had no choice, I tied her into the chair with one of her baby sister’s diapers (I use cloth). About twenty minutes later, Boo calls out in a sweet, timid voice… ‘Mommy, can you come untie me now?’. Oops, I knew it was too quiet.
- Neither my son or daughter would admit to getting into the bowl of candy although it was obvious one of them (at least) had. ‘Desperate’ to teach them that the lying never pays, I brought out one of my scrapbooking stamp pads, some tape and baby powder to ‘dust for finger prints’ on the candy dish. I got about halfway done when they both broke into a full-fledged confession. I could hardly keep the smile from my face.
Had that one coming…
Image source: iStock
As parents we’re quick to tell our children what they should and shouldn’t do, but do we practice what we preach?
- I always warn my kids to keep their hands to themselves in the store so they don’t break something. Well, we were in a cosmetics store where I was testing the sampler lipsticks. As I began to twist one up, it broke off and fell between the shelves. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I quietly placed the lid back on and moved away. I did make a purchase, however, so when we were at the counter, my seven year old said, ‘Don’t forget to pay for the lipstick you broke, Mom.’ Boy was I embarrassed–and busted!
- We were eating at one of our favorite restaurants with my elderly aunt who had the habit of taking extra sweetener packs, individual jellies and such home with her. When the waitress came to ask if we needed anything, four-year-old Savannah said, “Can I please have some more strawberry jelly? Aunt Patrice put it all in her purse.”
- My girlfriends and I take our kids to the pool to play once or twice a week. We enjoy visiting, watching our kids play and cooling off in the hot summer sun. One day, one of my friends made the comment that the lifeguard (a young boy about sixteen or seventeen) sure was cute. She said, “Or as my niece Caroline would say, ‘he’s hot!’.” Later that day, this same lifeguard was walking around the pool and came over to adjust one of the water guns in the kid’s area. My four-year-old daughter, who was playing with the other toys, asked the lifeguard if he was hot. He told her that he was fine, and said, “Why, are you?” “No,” Elaine said, “but Melinda told Mommy you were hot.” Needless to say, he didn’t hang around long.
Kids–you really gotta love ‘em! They’re honest, smart and attentive. There are times when there’s no need for any yelling. A young child is very intuitive and is able to sense when’s mum is not happy while also an expert at distinguishing between right and wrong. So mums, sometimes, you’ll just have to remember that like you, you child is human too. Use discipline, but be creative about it–because your kids are watching you!
We hope this piece on utilising creative discipline on your smart child was beneficial to all mums out there. If you have ideas to share, fire away! We’d be more than happy to hear from you.