At our house we allow our kids to have one sweet treat per day (usually a healthier version). That’s been our system for a while and it works pretty well so that our kids don’t feel “dessert deprived” in a world fullllllll of sugar and candy.
But…sweets at our house are only given to little boys who are sweet. We feel like eating a dessert is a privilege, therefore it’s the first privilege we take away when any of our boys have ugly attitudes or don’t treat one another with kindness.
Occasionally we give them a warning when we see a bad attitude coming on. “Change your attitude to be sweet…or you won’t get a sweet for the day.” Oooh, no one wants to miss out on their dessert. A happy face usually shows up almost immediately. But one warning is all they get. If the ugliness returns…they lose their dessert privilege. And sometimes they don’t get a warning at all. Because, obviously they’ve already been warned that it’s not okay to torture a brother. ;)
So…that’s one way we discipline our boys that works well for us. I love it because it’s a “punishment that fits the crime”: If you aren’t sweet, you don’t get sweets.
What have you found that works well for you in regard to “punishment that fits the crime”? What are some privileges you take away from your kids that have been effective?
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