5 Stupid things even good parents say... 4. “If you don’t stop that, I’ll turn this car around and we won’t go to Disney World” Empty threats are excellent—for stripping yourself of authority. If your kids are really young, or you’ve only just left the house, maybe they’ll believe you when you threaten to turn the car around and spend your vacation in the backyard. But after the first hundred miles or so, the kids will figure out that you’ve gone far enough that you won’t turn back. If your kids are older, they’ll know that you’ve probably already made reservations or bought tickets or whatever, and they’ll know you won’t want to throw away all that money just to make a point. Your threat will be empty, and your kids will know it. After a few of these empty threats (they don’t have to be about Disney World—they could be any threat that you’re not willing to carry out), your kids will stop believing your real threats, too. Or at least, they’ll be confused about which threats are real and which are empty. Depending on how much fun they’re having with whatever it is you want them to stop, they may decide it’s worth the risk. Eventually, you’ll end up having to actually punish your kids for disobedience pretty much every time, because they’ll stop responding to verbal correction. ____ My thing is to follow through and have the consequence match the problem of behavior. A family vacation is not the end from the means. lol ~Blondie
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 12:40:01 +0000
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