Today was one of those days as a parent that I had to improvise and come up with a new plan. Late last week I had to take away some of my oldest’s privileges due to some missing grades. I took away the typical things; television, video games, electronics, etc. The only problem with these punishments is that I’m also punished because now I have to find a way to entertain him because he’s bored. I know I’m not alone, we’ve all been there with our kids at different stages in their lives. My goal today was to find that balance so that I could get some of my weekend chores done and he would not be bored.
In a moment of venting I posed the following question to some of my Facebook friends, “I need a list of creative punishments that don’t punish the parent! Taking away TV, computer, etc just isn’t cutting it! I’m the only one that suffers.”
By the time I had asked this, both kids were being punished. Don’t you love it how the one child in trouble finds a way to antagonize the other child so that they both have to suffer the consequences together? I already had a few ideas from my list of chores that they could help me with, but they weren’t going to like it.
Here is a list of “chores” and tasks that would work as punishment for your school aged children.
- Empty the litter box. Let’s just say that my oldest did NOT want anything to do with this one and complained the entire time!
- Clean the baseboards. This one was shared by more than one of my friends. Guess I know why their houses are so clean!
- Cleaning cabinet doors.
- Vacuum. I’m a little too OCD with my vacuum for this one and I think my kids would enjoy it too much.
- Wash windows.
- Pick up sticks in the yard.
- Clean the grout on tile floors.
- Take out the trash. Tested this one out today and my youngest refused because it was ‘too gross!”
- Clean the bathroom.
- Scrub the toilets.
- Pull weeds.
- Clean the blinds.
- Dust.
- Fold the laundry.
- Do the dishes.
- Clean the pet hair from the vacuum. I think my son liked this one today because he got to “tinker” with my vacuum and get it to work again. Shockingly, he found a nerf bullet clogging the hole and my vacuum works a LOT better now.
- Organize the pantry.
- Organize the tupperware cabinet. I’ve used this one on several occasions and they do not enjoy it one bit!
- Clean the junk drawer.
- Dust light fixtures or fans.
The day actually turned out to be fun and WE ended up getting a lot accomplished as a team. They couldn’t argue or say no since they were both being punished; but they tried to resist a few tasks. At the end of the day, I found that I yelled a lot less today and I didn’t do all the housework by myself. I guess there are some advantages to them being in trouble. I think the worst punishment for my oldest today was that he wasn’t allowed to read ALL DAY!! He is the biggest bookwork I know and he could escape into a book 24 hours a day if we let him. Don’t worry, he gets his books back tomorrow. I’m not sure when I’ll return the video games and television though; they don’t need those as much during the week anyways.
What other ways have you been successful at punishing or disciplining your children without suffering yourself?
Pin these for later. I’m sure you’ll be thanking me one day.
I always HATED cleaning. My parents made us do it every Saturday regardless of if we were good or not. Dishes were the worst for me.
Crystal H recently posted..Zim’s #MaxFreeze + Giveaway
I make mine pick up toys downstairs a couple of times a day. Hello, mom’s going to faceplant otherwise. But they really only do their rooms a sparse pick up at night, and the play area maybe once a month unless they’ve torn it all to hades. We lack storage in a serious way.
Jill S recently posted..All about that Seuss
I agree cleaning is the best way to punish the kids. You get a clean house, teach them about cleaning and discipline them all at the same time. My parents used that strategy with me and I think it works. It might have worked too well, now I am a clean freak. Lol