So mummy's I need some different punishment ideas!
Bit of backstory! For months my daughter has been coming home from school telling me he younger brother has been getting canteen food at school I was putting it down to his mates getting it for him although I have been noticing gold coins missing once again putting it down me having spent it and not remembering Although a few times I have cought him in my wallet
brings us to today I went to buy a bottle of water knowing I had gold coins and $10 note in my wallet only to go into the shop and have nothing in my wallet except a few silver coins knowing my daughter is not at school today and knowing where she is there is nowhere to spend money I messaged the lady in the canteen and explained the situation and asked her not to surve him she responded with A message saying "crap what do you want me todo he came in this morning with a $10note and about $9 in gold coins and ordered his lunch" I told her to give him his lunch and I'll deal with him when he gets home
I don't know what todo he gets timeouts he loses thing for an amount of time (currently doesn't have his Xbox or tv) he's been smacked he's been made do extra jobs nothing seems to work I feel like I'm losing my mind!
5 Replies
The reward of buying his lunch is stronger than any punishment you can deliver!
Lock money, purses, wallets in a safe at home. Give the canteen a photo of him with instructions to never serve him again, unless you have cleared it.
I would be making him do a lot of jobs worth say 2 dollars each like cleaning the toilet, vacuuming cars etc to earn the amount he stole. Then he should take that money he "earnt" and buy you lunch. I would also be locking away your money until he gets the message that stealing is not okay.
You make him work for everything. Currently he owes you money. Only give fruit, water, sanwhiches. Take away all electronic devices and any fun activities that aren't sport. So no going to the pool, no take aways, nothing fun for a set period of time. Even if that means other siblings miss out. You can even find someone to watch him while you take the siblings out to do something fun that he misses out on. Lock away all you money better yet don't keep any cash on you. If he goes to the canteen ask the canteen to take the money but not give him anything better yet let her know that he's not to be served. Even if he has money and that if you didn't send the lunch order through then it's not to be taken. I've found that at school age smacks and stuff have lost their affect but the idea of sitting in your room with nothing but a book to read (so no toys either) is the best punishment I can give my 10 year old who's main focus is technology. I also make said child do the weeding, clean the loungeroom, pick up dog poop, clean walls, miss out on fun etc he's also naive enough to still believe in Santa so the good old your gonna get coal for Christmas still works here.
Good Luck Mumma! And if all else fails contact your local police station and ask them to have a talk to your child about the repercussions of stealing etc sometimes putting the fear of whatever into a child is the only option!
How old is he? I would take him to the police station for a talk on what happens when you a cought stealing, i would make him work off every cent that he has stolen
My son was 5 when I arranged a visit to the community constable for his 3rd round of fighting as he hadn't learnt that it wasn't acceptable, after all our " chats" and punishments , wanted to nip that in the butt early, it worked for 5 years, then out of the blue got into several fights today ?. When he was 7, I caught him with a toy a knew wasn't his after we left the mall, I took him straight back to the store, asked for the manager, told her exactly what happened, then told her to do what she needed to, she took him back to her office and left him there while she came back out to chat to me, she was brilliant, she asked me what I wanted to do, i apologised a million times then I told her to treat him like she would a 15 year old, as I didn't ever want it happening again, so she ran through some senarios with me. Then went back and talked to him, (she did ask if I wanted to be in the room, but due to the way my ex taught our son to ignore me I thought it best I wasn't there) he hasn't stolen anything since. I would just like to add that my son has been through a fair bit of negativity as I was in a dv relationship with his dad, so my sons concept of right and wrong isn't that great , he is working on that with his councillor.