Punishment: Giving Our Children What They Deserve

Raising children is a lot like raising orchards. Except that children often need to be punished and orchards rarely do. Some people might object to the use of the word punishment. Such people should be smacked. Only joking, of course. But a child needs something. 'Discipline' sounds too philosophical and 'guidance' sounds too wishy-washy, so I am stuck with 'punishment'. But how does a parent effectively punish a child? There are many ways.

When I was a child my parents would send me to bed without supper, not because I had done anything bad, but because my parents wanted more food for themselves.

My mother also used to make me go stand in the corner when I had done something bad. We lived in a yurt at the time so it was really frustrating and sure did teach me my lesson. The modern day equivalent of standing in the corner is to give a child a 'time out'. 'Time out' was once a good thing, something you 'called' in dodge ball when you needed a breather because you were loosing. I guess that is what makes getting a 'time out' so cruel a punishment today. A kid thinks he is getting something good, then, he gets isolation.

We used to try isolation punishments on our son until we realized that he hated it more if we made him stay with his family. We tried other forms of discipline on him until one day we discovered where to hit him where it would really hurt; his wallet. He always seemed to have cash on him and we always needed some so it was a perfect arrangement. We would fine him for all sorts of mischief and misdemeanors. It was especially lucrative for us when he returned from visiting his grandparents because 1) he was spoiled and behaved badly because of their influence, and, 2) he was loaded with money they gave him. Unfortunately our son caught on to us and started to behave better.

So for all you parents out there struggling to know what to do, I just say give your children lots of love and attention and maybe, just maybe, they will share some of the money your parents give them.