As I was driving home with the kiddos the other night, I had one of those great, spur of the moment mommy moments. We hadn’t been in the car for 10 minutes when the kids started in. He started arguing and she started giving some “sass” back. Now we had a least an hour to go so I had to do something to get it under control…what to do?!?
Got it…hold hands for 5 minutes! Needless to say, they were not happy with this announcement!! Of course they tried to fight it, she squeezed his hand, he tattled on her, so I added 5 more minutes that was the end of that!!
There they were, strapped in their seats stretched across holding hands…so sweet if it hadn’t been a punishment. Ten minutes passed quickly and the remainder of the trip was uneventful and a win for mommy!!!
This got me thinking about some other “win” moments, so I decided to share a few with you.
1. Time out from the party – this one happened just the other weekend. We had a full day planned with multiple birthday parties that we weren’t going to miss. As the morning started, and some “sass” started to show, a decision was made. We are going to the parties, but for every time you give me attitude you will sit for 5 minutes at the party. So we arrived, I set the timer on my phone, handed it to her, and told her to sit until it went off.
2. Manual labor – when you run into the store to grab a few things and the kids start getting crazy, grab an extra gallon of milk or juice and make them carry it! My husband actually came up with this one! While it takes a little longer to get through the store, the kids are much calmer carrying a 2 pound jug of liquid!!
3. Writing sentences – this works great for the older kiddos. Start with a small number of sentences and build up from there. Here’s a little hint: pre-number your paper so you don’t have to count all the sentences! This helps build writing skills and they sure won’t forget what they did after writing in over and over and over again.
4. Time out on the go – I can scope out a time out spot anywhere we go now. It can be anything – corner, chair, spot on the wall, etc. The key, as soon as you get there, is let them know where the spot is and that you will use it. We even had to break this one out on Halloween one year!!
These are just a few that we have used along the way. Do you have any that have worked well for you and your kiddos? I would love some new ideas, so please share away!!
These are great ideas! I especially love the holding hands in the car and milk jug carrying (kuddos to the DH.) When traveling on vacation, I always like to stop at rest area with grassy spots away from the parking lot. My oldest has a lot of energy, so I thought one day, “Go race to that tree over there and back and I will time you!” Then he ended up racing back and forth till Daddy got done at the rest area (so he could beat his time.) When we got back in the car, all that pent up energy was spent and he even rested quietly for a time. 🙂 Genius!
Now that’s what I call strategy! 🙂
Love it!!! We have a few long car trips planned for the summer so I will definitely keep this in mind!!
Oh, Beth. These are fabulous! I definitely need to be a little more creative with my loving…er.. I mean disciplining when in public. Grabbing her arm and hissing threats into her ear just isn’t working. 🙂 Of course, some of these will need to wait a few years, but I’ll keep it filed for future use! Thanks for sharing! As moms we want to stay consistent no matter where we are or what we’re doing. These are some great damage-free ways to do that!