Several months ago I saw a bad pattern in my parenting; I was repeating myself several times a week (days on some items) to my children on various issues:
“Hang your coat up.”
“Pick up your clothes.”
“Put your dishes in the sink/dishwasher.”
Have you been there? Finally, I remembered the power of a consequence. I sat the kids down, told them the expectation, made sure they understood the expectation, and then shared with them the following:
“When I come home and find your items not taken care of I will fine you $1 for each offense. Is that clear?”
Well, sure enough, the next day I came home from the office, saw coats and bags laying around, and calmly handed out fines. That was three weeks ago, I have only had to do it one time!
But now it’s time to hear from you, so I want to know: When did you have to lay the law down in parenting and how did it work? In 100 words or less, send your responses to [email protected] with the subject line “Consequences.”
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