For the Parents
Fjork — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 08:21
So two weeks ago, as most of you know, I took the week off to be with my wife and kids for the week after wifey had my new farmer. I decided to goto my son's school on Tuesday to surprise him and pick him up from school. First time I've ever met his teacher.
"I need to talk to you about Caleb. He was flipping the finger all day, and when I got on to him about it, he flipped it at me and asked what I was going to do about it."
I spanked him fairly hard, grounded him from nearly everything, made him apoligize to his teacher, and gave him a HORRID lecture. (He'd rather a second spanking than a lecture. True story.)
So Monday I come home from work (he's now ungrounded) to find out that he decided he was hungry while my wife and neighbor were at the office in our community visiting my mom. So he broke into the maintenance guys truck, took the pry-bar, and proceeded to BREAK every lock on the snack machine until the lid would come off right. ( I just donated that snack machine. $300.00 )
So, I spanked the crap out of him again, and took away LIFE in general. THEN I told him he has craploads of chores for ......pretty much forever. As soon as he gets home from school each day this will be his routine: A) Do homework, B) Clean room, C) Seperate Laundry, D) Clean dishes, E) Clean living room. After he's ungrounded, he can start to play after ALL of that is done each day.
So what does he think up to do NEXT? He tells his teacher that she can't assign him homework because he has to rake leaves, clean his room, etc, etc, etc and hands his homework back to her. Get's up from his desk and tells her with a cocky "I don't have to do shit you want me to" attitude that she CAN'T assign him homework, drops the assignment on her desk, and goes and sits back down.
(Props to my son on his balls, seriously.)
So...... Here I'm at an impasse......
A) He's grounded, I can't take ANYTHING else away.
B) I've spanked him more times in the past month than in the past year.
C) He's getting to the age that he's zoneing out when I lecture.
E) Crying hysterically and saying "I'm sorry" lasts about three minutes from him
So what do I do?
He wrote back and front two pages (each line):
- "I will not lie to my teacher about not having time to do homework and I'm sorry."
- "I will not disrespect my aunt xxx and uncle xxxx and I'm sorry."
- "I will not lie to or about my parents and I'm sorry."
- "I will not steal from my community and I'm sorry."
heh heh heh.
See.
He DID have enough time for homework!


solutions?
Magic — Fri, 04/24/2009 - 08:55What are the tings kids need? attention, consistency, and something to do. I would try to reinforce the messages of acceptable behavior in talks and examples through sepnding time with him like other folks have said above. Find a hobby that you both love to do and can both do at the same time. Learn guitar together, play those things with sweating and running...uh...sports! those things, build models, listen to music, start geocaching together. Get him some time where he can feel special.
Also, don't expect miracles overnight. The responsibilities as a big brother might halp too. Good luck. I get a new critter in the fall.
I'm not a parent, but I can
Atar — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:07I'm not a parent, but I can remember clearly my punishments when I was a child. I wasn't that bad when I was younger, but I did do some things that I shouldn't have.
First off when I say "beat" I mean spanking. I was never abused or anything. We just call spankings "beating" here. NC FTW.
For me. When I was young I learned from day one that I do what my parents say. I didn't ask questions. I didn't ask why. I just did it. But, if was feeling like a smart ass that day and talked back I got beat. From my mom and my dad, or my grandma or grandpa. Whoever was around got a piece. I'm not talking about a little slapping on the butt with their hand. I'm talking about a huge paddle, switch, board, or anything that will inflict pain.
I remember having to call my dad at work to tell him that I told a boy to "shut the fuck up". I think the feeling of knowing that I was going to get a beating when I got home was the worst part. He beat me so hard when he got home from work I couldn't sit down for hours. That was in the thrid grade.
My grandma, you can ask Alprazalam, used to beat us with a switch. Me and my cousins would do something stupid and she'd make us go out side and find her a switch to beat us with. That was always bad news. She'd line us up grab our arms and beat the crap out of us with that switch. Lol, the good times. If we pissed her off really bad she'd just take the fly swatter and beat us with that.
But anyways, those stories are just a FEW examples of the punishment I got. I won't go into the time I got beat with a tobacco stalk in the tobacco field...... I was never on restriction or anything like that. The beatings I got was punishment enough. Trust me. After I got beat I was angel for weeks after that.
This post reminded me of that. So I just wanted to share.
I don't get the spankings or
Dragon — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:18I don't get the spankings or "beatings" as atar calls them. No I get the lecture from a former trial lawyer.
The lecture (assume it started at noon) tended to go on well into the evening (read like 7). And you can't ever quite zone out.
Damn those lectures...
FYI: Dish Soap+Dishwasher Detergent are NOT a good thing to mix in order to make dishes cleaner. (The cause of one such lecture a week after we moved into a new house)
age?
moriella — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 08:56How old is this hellion ?
He's nine, and sadly
Fjork — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:26He's nine, and sadly excepting the last month, he's one of the most well behaved his around my community.
It's like since my youngest was born he's gone emo-crazy.
He even rolled a shaman before he lost his gaming privileges..........
acting out
moriella — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 09:38Yep, he's acting out because of the new baby. He is feeling bereft of attention and is acting out to get it. Lots of emotions at play here, the first of which is jealousy. Jealous of the new baby. The second is uncertainity. He's uncertain of his role in the new family and feeling like you 'dont love him' as much/anymore.
If he's gonna be this bad, some therapy may be in order. Going overboard with punishment will only re enforce his feelings that he is somehow 'less' since the baby came along.
Just my opinion.. No I have no children, but I've helped raise LOTS of them.
oh
and I stayed at a holiday inn last night.
Well Said
Darthon — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:08Moriella hit the nail on the head. He is looking for more attention and the easy way to get it is to be bad. The best thing to do is to spend some 1 on 1 time with him doing something without the baby. I know it will be tough at this point because it sounds like a reward. He needs to be the focus even for just a bit a few times a week.
He needs to know that he is a part of the family and play up the Big Brother role. It is important that he understands that he has a role in the family and that he is growing up.
Unfortunatly with all the punishment he is getting the attention, just from the wrong avenue. I have 3 kids and right now my youngest is nine. I have 1 due in the end of May and I have started talking to him (my 9 year old) about his role and what my expectations are. I know you can not turn the clock back and prep him for this, but start talking to him now. Short and to the point conversations where he is the focus, talking too long and he will zone out.
Maybe try sitting him down and saying "Let's start over". A fresh start and putting the events behind you may be an option. He just might be so grateful that he will snap out of it.
I really hope everything works out, that is a tough situation.
(No subject)
Aidin — Thu, 04/23/2009 - 08:35