Crime & Punishment

If we didn't love our kids we would let them do whatever they wanted. But since we want the best for them, we guide and teach.

For the first few years, the timeout was working. But now that my son is a school ager, I've abandoned the time-out in favor of a method I've developed myself.

I call it the SvS method or Smart versus Strong method. Here's the logic behind it. It seems really smart kids are rarely the most physically fit and vice versa - the most physically fit kids are rarely the sharpest knives in the drawer. This disciple technique aims to create balance.

For instance, my oldest son is very smart for his age, but physically a bit behind his age group. So when it comes to his crimes of the mind, he's sentence is push-ups, sit-ups and deep knee bends. If he makes a crime of the body, such as beating up his little brother, he has to tell me different ways he could have handled the situation.

The timeout method says to give the kid one minute solitary for every year of life. 2 years old = 2 minutes timeout. I've adopted the same ratio for the SvS. For every year of life there's a push-up, sit-up, deep knee bend and alternative method of conduct.

I will say this, as opposed to grounding or long sustained punishments - like no something for a week - this method is quick and so far it's showing promise. My son is finding the excercises are getting easier to do - so that's nice. And the alternative methods we talk through are helping him discover there is more than one way to skin a little brother.