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Friday, March 26, 2010

Variations of Discipline

The whole scaring, growling, pretending to be mad, etc. has come to a screeching halt.
We have been much more firm and have given him consequences for his negative behaviour and have followed through with: no park today (for not listening to teachers), taking the costumes away (for scaring sister), time outs, etc. for various other things.  We're firm but put the blame back on him by saying, "Wow, sorry you chose not to listen to your teacher, it's a shame we won't be able to go to the park this evening..." 
I know this doesn't work on every kid - especially those with impulse control issues or ADHD, etc. but Cooper can control his actions or suffer the consequences.
It's totally worked - duh, right?! 
Well, he's been so good up until this point, we've not really had to do anything too drastic!
So now we know. 
We're basically following the Love and Logic technique - I love this way of thinking, it's so, uh, logical!
Every day when I pick them up from school, they say, "I didn't get any write-ups today!!"  and they're so proud.  Of course I make a big deal of it and the teacher does too saying that they tried really hard today and succeeded!  I call Jim on the way home and tell him how good they were - loudly of course!
Cooper's teacher said she felt he has made a leap forward with maturity this past week or so... we felt the same thing.  Hmmmm, could discipline be the answer?!

Kara is doing well too.  Her biting has almost completely stopped.  I talk to her everyday and say, "What will you do if someone makes you mad?"  She'll say, "Not bite.  Say NO! and tell the teacher."  It's definitely gotten better.  The school director says her behaviour is completely normal for a 3 year old.  They are still working out how to deal with strong emotions at this age but that talking to her about it every day will help.
She continues to be a genuinly sweet, loving child and only wants to please others.
There are rare times that we have to put her in time-out and that's when she runs away from us for some reason.  She's a runner, that one.   We're working on it and it's getting better.

Here are some random pics of the kids -














Cooper working on his computer (Cool School)

Kara taking Pink for a walk


Cooper, Kara and Me on a camel at the rodeo!









4 comments:

The Robins' Nest said...

So glad to hear about the improvements. We have tried Love & Logic and use a lot of their techniques, but it's probably smart to go back and reread. Parenting is exhausting!!

Love the pictures. That is a cool computer and I LOVE the little baby jogger. After having my fill of trains, cars, trucks, balls and bugs I love seeing all the girly toys!

kate said...

I'm a HUGE L&L fan! I find it just that--loving and logical.

Glad it's working at your house. ;>

kate said...

Um, why was there a camel at the rodeo?

Troy and Rachel said...

Great ideas and we also do the whole phone call to daddy and loudly say how good Daniel's being - I think the positive just works out so better. Kids are tough, but they are worth it!!