Worst punishment ever

One more post on the joys of child-rearing and then I’ll get off the topic. But I did say I was going to tell you about the punishment Mollie dreaded above all others. I’m not the only parent to use this supreme form of torture, but the vast majority don’t use it effectively.

 

It’s what I called an Amish Grounding. In other words – if the average Amish child doesn’t have it Mollie didn’t either. She could have nothing that plugged in or had a battery.  Of course this included TV, radio, computer, Kindle, tablet, iWatch, any type of electric game and above all, the phone. 

This pretty much confined her to her room, because I wasn’t being punished and I was planning to watch TV or listening to music, so she couldn’t be in the room with me. I hear people saying, ‘Big deal, everyone take away electronics.’ But do they? 

 

From the time I was a kid, all through my teaching career and even today I occasionally hear a parent say, “You’re grounded for a week! Sometime they’d say two weeks or even a month.” To which I always wanted to answer BULLSHIT!

 

I know very few parents these days who will go through the whining, complaining and begging to deal with a teenager with the total loss of electronic for a full week, much less longer.

The key that worked for me was the duration of the Amish grounding – usually a max of 48 hours. But I did reserve the possibility of adding another day if I had to listen to any whining or complaining about it. I could stick with it for two days. But even at that she was miserable. She was pretty much stuck with the option of reading and nothing else. Since she wasn’t a reader the few times I used it I think she slept for most of the 48 hours. You had to hit them hard, make it stick and then it was over. Way too many parents simple wimp out.

 

This can be used for any age child as long as you know their currency. Maybe for young kids it’s not being able to go outside for the rest of the day but almost any age kid these day plays with some type of  electronics. Make the time appropriate maybe twelve hours for younger kids, or for the rest of the day. But I swear it works. And the adding more time for whining is a big part. It’s just a matter of the parents thinking before they speak and then sticking to what they say. 

 

The second year I taught we took kids to visit a well know house in the area. The house did not allow gum inside. A guide stood at the door of our bus with a bag for kids to throw away any gum they had in their mouths. I had already stressed the rule. Walking though I saw one of our kids chewing and I was livid! I immediately made her get rid of it. Her mother was on the trip as a chaperone and said with distress,  ‘I just made her spit a piece out just a moment ago!’ This kid had given me trouble all year and I was furious.

 

I told the girl when we stopped for ice cream she would be sitting at a table alone and I would get her a cup of ice water and that was it! But remember, I was a second year teacher and the mother was along. Before we got to the ice cream stop I went to the mother and asked her if she thought I was being too harsh. I’ll always remember her answer, “Oh no, I think it’s fair.” Then she added, “If you can stick to it.”

 

BINGO! I told her that wouldn’t be a problem, but I’d realized what the family’s problem was. Wimp assed parents. I told her sticking to it would not be a problem for me, and it sure wasn’t.

 

My kids were easy to raise. We talked a lot and when I asked them to do something or not do it they listened about 98% of the time. I talk a lot with them about problem kids at school and ask their opinions of how I should have handled a certain problem. And bless their hearts, they still listen to me. That’s not to say they do as I suggest these days, but they pay me the honor of actually listening to what I think about a situation, before doing whatever they think is best. I can’t ask for more than that.