Disciplining Your Stubborn Child

Disciplining children can result in a lot of crying, temper tantrums and screaming. This is especially true if you fail to keep consistent rules and consequences for your child. Having set rules and consequences allows your child to take more responsibility for their actions and their punishments. Instead of you dishing out an arbitrary consequence, your child can see what the consequence for his actions will be before an action is taken. The pyramid consequence chart takes this responsibility one step farther by having the child dish his punishment out himself.

Draw a triangle on a sheet of paper and divide it into five sections. Pick five different colors, one for each section, and color each section. The colors themselves do not matter as much as having defined sections for each color.

Decide what the consequences will be for each level on the pyramid. Start at the bottom with something small, such as no toys for the rest of the day, and work your way to the top. One example would be from the bottom: no toys for the rest of the day, no electronics for the rest of the day, one-hour nap, going to bed as soon as dinner is over and going to bed for the rest of the day and only being allowed up to use the bathroom and meals.

Post the pyramid along with the rules on your refrigerator. Next to the pyramid should be a list of your house rules. These do not need to set a rule for every possible thing that will happen in your home but should cover what is most important in your household. Examples include speaking nicely, doing as your told and keeping hands and feet to yourself.

Make a tag with your child's name or picture on a magnet to sit next to the pyramid. Make sure your child can reach the tag and top of the pyramid and adjust it if necessary. Have a conversation with your child and explain the house rules and consequences. Do not assume your child knows what the rules are even if he says he does.

When your child breaks one of the house rules, walk him to the pyramid and have him read the house rule. Explain how his actions violated that rule and then have him move his tag onto the lowest section of the pyramid. Now have him read the consequence for that level. Repeat this as many times as is necessary reminding your child that he chose to break the posted rule so he will now suffer the posted consequence.

Remain consistent when enforcing the consequences and rules you have set forth. While this method can take some time to sink in, you will begin to see a difference in your child's behavior. Remember to not add arbitrary rules and consequences to the chart without speaking with your child about why the rule or consequence is being added. Otherwise, your child is left feeling like the pyramid means nothing because new rules and punishment are dealt out that are not listed.