“Honor your Father and your Mother.” (Exodus 20:12)
- Do not over-react, the less emotion the better and the punishment needs to be proportional to the infraction.
- United front- mom and dad must be on the same page and punishments should be discussed as a couple before announcing it to the child.
- You need to make the children understand the gravity of the offense and why you are punishing them.
- You need to determine what they most enjoy doing and use that as collateral (cell phones, video games, computer, facebook, ipod, dessert,…)
- Disrespect can never be tolerated.
- The punishment should be pro-active. Give them a book, an assignment or a chore so as to make good use of this time.
- Unconditional love- no matter what happens, they still need to see that you love them.
