When it comes to discipline every child is different and what works for one child doesn’t always work for another.
Ike a stern word was enough to make him cry but Hue, our strong-willed tenacious child, it took a lot more. He loved his sports, so we found grounding him from sports practices or even games gave him good motivation. Hue has always been and still is a high energy person. Being grounded to his room was torture. Honestly, when we really began to enforce this, I wasn’t sure he would actually obey the ‘stay in your room’ rule. He would push the rule to the limit, sitting right at the door. Bored to death, I’d hear him call, “Mom, do you want me to do the dishes?” Doing anything rather than sitting and do nothing in his room seemed a better option. I found it rather comical as he continued to ask to help do chores. To his dismay, I didn’t always allow him to. As a young teen he had been invited to help paint at the church, a couple miles from our home. He really wanted to do this but he was grounded and angry about it. Remember, Hue was our child determined to get what he wanted, when he wanted it. I went to check on him that evening but Hue was gone. The window was opened and screen pushed out. I knew exactly where to find him, although we did go up and down the street calling for him. I told Jer to drive to the church. Hue must have ran fast those two miles in the dark. Sure, enough when Jer got there, Hue was already there painting. Of course, we loved that he wanted to be at church helping but he tried us over and over. You’re probably wondering where the disciplining secret is. Besides remembering every child is different and you are a different parent to each child, I’m convinced I don’t have the answers. After raising six kids you’d think I would but I only have ideas to try. We would try different thing and adjust but remember this, nothing is more important than loving your kids, which just happens to mean you discipline when needed.