Naughty Corner

Alyce has had her first taste of discipline. She has had two trips to the naughty corner. One of the big questions Mom and I have had as parents is when and how harshly to discipline our children. Perhaps you just know when it is time to discipline your children and apparently for us that time is now.

The strategy we are going to use for now is the naughty corner or naughty chair depending on where we are at. We are basically going to make Alyce sit on a chair or in a corner for 1 minute per year of age. So at this point only for 1 minute (soon to be 2). Our plan is to use this when she continues to do something unacceptable after we have given her a warning. Spanking isn't off the table and we have even used it in a few circumstances, but I think we will reserve that for situations that require immediate action such as Alyce putting her hand on a stove or other actions that could impact her safety or others.

So far the corner strategy has had mixed results. The first time Mom tried putting Alyce in the corner she had to hold her there for the minute while Alyce giggled. I will chalk that up to the fact that Alyce had no clue as to what Mom was doing. The second time Alyce stayed where she was supposed to, but still giggled. It is hard to gauge whether any lesson from the discipline is sinking in because her attention is focused on something else after the minute in the corner.

Wish us luck as another page in the book of parenting turns. Any advice would also be appreciated.