Your child has done something so bad that you almost wish you could send him or her away forever! He or she may have lied about his or her actions, attempted to cover them up, or just didn\’t say anything until you got the dreaded phone call. You have been thinking what might you do to drive the point home to your child for his or her bad behavior, “This will not happen again or else!”

Stealing.

This offense is one that is popular amongst children. The simplest lesson and the most effective is to make their favorite things disappear. Now be careful, some rebellious children just might take revenge. So you don\’t want to take everything out of their room all at once. You also don\’t want to take their items away for good either. Allow them to feel uncomfortable about what is missing. Make them look for it. Hopefully, they will remember how they felt, before they decide to take someone\’s items again. However, repeat offenders who steal frequently, they need professional counseling. Sometimes there is a mental illness connected with their stealing or an individual or group that helps keep the stealing going. Think about the things that could be going on around them and the people who they associate with and work to create distance between them and your child.

Name-calling.

Children who name-call usually do it for attention or to deflect away from their personal hang-ups. Putting a stop to name-calling isn\’t easy if you aren\’t always around the child to correct him or her. Therefore, you must take what free time you do have to train them. Teach them how to communicate their feelings without calling names. Remind he or she what the punishment is when you hear reports that they are calling names. Watch the people they admire and when you see or hear about negativity from others, cut these people off from visiting and calling your home. There isn\’t much you can do when your child\’s at school other than meet with teachers and/or principal or have a set of eyes watching how your child behaves during and/or after-school.

Destroying property.

When a child damages any property whether at home, school or somewhere else, he or she should be responsible for cleaning and/or helping to fix it. When the item(s) can\’t be fixed, he or she should be made to do chores daily or help those that he or she offended. Some parents have made their children wear a sign in front of the public to shame them. Other parents will get the police involved to teach their child a lesson. While other parents will do what The Holy Bible says when it comes to disciplining their children., they spank them.

You know your child better than most, what form of discipline do you think will work? Read books on discipline. Make an appointment with school officials. Talk with the child\’s doctor and get a referral to meet with a psychologist for repeated patterns of behavior. Interview your child to find out what he or she may be upset about that is causing him or her to act out.

When you know you have done the best you can to teach your child, allow those feelings of anger and resentment to recede. Don\’t feed into the negativity of others concerning your child and avoid daily complaining to relatives and friends about your son or daughter. Otherwise, you will find yourself never getting over your rage which will affect the relationship you have with your child long-term.

Author Bio: Nicholl McGuire is a mother of four. She enjoys writing about parenting challenges. You can read more of her work at: Parents, Babies, Children

Category: Parenting
Keywords: raising sons, raising daughters, discipline techniques, parenting advice, discipline advice, parent