Discipline

The post I wrote recently on spanking has had me thinking a lot about . . . spanking.  I want to clarify a little better.  I think spanking is a good tool, but not the only/ best for discipline.  For us time out works. It really does. I put Carmen in her room by herself until she calms down and apologizes and promises to be nice again. I reason with her.  And she is the most reasonable 2 year old ever.  Even as an infant.  My MIL reminded me that when Carmen would start to cry by the time she was 6 months old I would talk to her and she would stop crying.  I would tell her don't cry baby, mommy will fix it.  We have only had 2 public tantrums and 1 of them ended peacefully. 

Even Louis is somewhat reasonable. He was screaming in the car because he was thirsty but I could not reach his cuppy so I told him I was sorry and we would be home in a few minutes and he was going to have to be patient.  I just kept talking to him calmly and lovingly until he stopped crying. Took about 3 minutes.  He was truly screaming.  But then he took the cracker I offered and chilled.  

I don't think people give their kids enough credit.  I told my sister about Louis's tantrum and she didn't believe

me.  In fact the other day I was on the phone with her when she was driving and my niece started throwing a tantrum and she didn't try to reason with her. She just ignored it.  I think ignoring is a bad tool for tantrums.  At least for my kids.  

So to sum up.  For me the most important thing it Reasoning with them.   Then I use timeout and as a last resort I use spanking.  Those are my tools and they work well for me.