Monday, July 20, 2009

Consequences

Do you give your children consequences if they do not listen? My boys are great and they do really well but every now and then we have our moments to where the draw for them is to strong and they forget what they should be doing. Take today for example. We go to FedEx Kinko's to ship a diaper cake and before we even get out of the car I tell them to listen while we are in there and afterwards we will go to Jamba Juice if and only if they mind. When you walk in the draw must be too strong because they immediately see candy and packing peanuts. Eli proceeds to toss up a bag of peanuts after repeated requests to please stop and Nic is drawn to the candy and decides he can't hold back and opens the Mentos. I told them both since they didn't listen we would not be going next door but instead go home. After I paid for the Mentos, I heard the girl at FedEx sort of giggle as we were walking to the door and hearing me telling the boys this. Either she thought they were cute or she was wondering if I was going to follow through with what I told them. The boys did not like that I started putting them in the car and into their car seats, all the while saying, "Mommy we will listen." I tell them both they should have listened while they were in the store and we proceed to head home. Both were very unhappy and wined the whole way home. But once home, calmed down, eating lunch and talking they realized they should have stayed beside me and they would have gotten a juice drink. So what do you do when your kiddos do not follow through, continue on and ignore or follow through with the consequence?


* I found this cartoon and just thought it was too hilarious *

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My boys are older than yours, but I still seem to have this problem sometimes. LOL For the most part, they are GREAT boys, but on those occasions....this is what I do: one warning, in their face, down on their level so they hear me, and then if they continue, we leave. My boys get grounded from something, but they are older.

When they were younger, like yours, I tried to keep something NEW for them while we were in the store: a new little toy for them to hold, a little snack tucked away in a baggie, a book to read in the cart, and as they got older, I would give them little games to play, usually I spy was best because then they'd be looking for stuff in the store instead of screaming and running around. And there were the occasional trips to the bathroom for a swat on the hiney, but that was when they are older.

Your boys are young and sometimes, it just isn't feasible for them to be still and be quiet. Darn it. LOL I tried to keep my errands during certain times to a minimum, around lunch or nap times, I just tried NOT to go out. Not always do-able for sure, I know. But in those times, I kept my goody bag of tricks that ONLY came out for those trips.

And, because this time DOES go by super-fast, enjoy it. I miss my little boys that held my hand on outings with the little tiny legs and chubby cheeks....

Melinda said...

I follow through with my said "punishment" but Jack always fires back with "Well, I didn't want to________ anyway."....what a little smarty-pants : )

Debbie said...

You are great! I follow through too and always have. My kids know I mean business and it has served me well. Don't back down.

Kristen@nosmallthing said...

I do exactly what you did. Great job! The problem I have is when one of the children behaves while the others do not. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, that doesn't happen to often. If they're in a mood to be silly and misbehave, it is like a rapidly spreading virus!

Anonymous said...

I love that cartoon.