Tip Tuesday: Make the Punishment Fit the Crime

Some days my boys make me want to tear my hair out. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But it's the days when they are not themselves that they test my limits. Like when Sean deliberately ran up to me and threw up in my hands. I don't know what made me cup my hands under his mouth; maybe it was just "mommy sense". But those are the days when it isn't their fault. I'm talking about the days that are their fault.

You know what I'm talking about. It's the days when they yell over me when I'm trying to talk to their dad, or on the phone. The days when they chase each other around, playfully poking each other with toys until someone hurts the other (not that I didn't say it was going to happen).

And then there's the days when they think my white walls are a blank canvas. I'm all for artistic creativity, just not on the walls.

 My five year old tried to blame it on his little brother (22 months). Until he pointed out that it looked like e's. Oh yeah. I caught that. So I said, "Hmmm, it does look like e's. Did Sean really do it, or did you?" He said, "I did it."

This is where the punishment fits the crime. We got out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and made him wipe it off.
He scrubbed and whined and scrubbed and whined. I'm sure some people would consider this "child abuse". You know, making a child work instead of playing and punishing self expression. Well, he can express himself on your white wall. But in my house, we color, write and draw on paper.

And if we color on the walls, we clean the walls. And he hasn't written on the walls since.