Disciplining a child takes a lot of effort. Going old school, perhaps yelling or hitting were used as a way to punish kids. Spanking, yelling or beating are perhaps the worst ways to punish a child. They have long lasting damaging effects on a child’s well-being. We totally do not recommend these punishments.
You have to be creative and have to use different and effective strategies that work, yet the ones that don’t hurt the child. Many parents look out for consequences and punishments that work as well as help in disciplining their kids. Though it could sound simplified, it could be tough in finding the right punishment ideas for kids especially if the little ones are smarter.
Imagine only having a set of punishment ideas and your kid already knows what punishment he/she will be receiving for doing something that’s not to be done? You need to have wisdom, consistency, and empathy along with love, humor, and patience when it comes to finding punishments ideas for kids. On top of everything, you need to mix in a little creativity for better learning.
Look out for these creative punishments for kids that help them discipline as well as refrain them from committing their mistakes again.
11 Positive And Different Punishment Ideas For Kids
So, you have tried all positive disciplining techniques and since nothing seemed to work out, you look out for innovative punishment ideas for kids that could ease you. This could simply be because your child doesn’t respond to traditional punishment techniques. When a child exhibits stubbornness, parents get frustrated easily and try to take their punishments to the next level out of their anger, which is one of the most common parenting mistakes.
Making your child react remorsefully to a harsh punishment isn’t an effective positive discipline. This simply means that the child doesn’t care about being disciplined. Often parents think that sending a child to an isolated room as an act of punishment could help the child learn from their mistakes. The fact is, it could only reduce the chaos and not let the child change their attitude, which is not an effective punishment.
Parents need to understand why a kid misbehaves in a situation which will help them avoid that behavior in the future. Listed below are a few punishment ideas for kids who don’t respond to punishment.
1. Time to do house chores
Kids hate it when asked to do household chores. Therefore, you must assign them household chores as a creative punishment for kids. A child who knows — what punishment he will receive for making a mistake — for a task that is told and undone — will be surprised with this kind of punishment. And before you feel guilty for making the child do cleaning tasks or other household chores, you must know that these punishment ideas for kids develop into habits that will help the child in the future.
Related Reading: 8 Tips To Inculcate Sharing And Caring To Kids
2. Remove a privilege
Kids are obsessed with many things. For some, removing their favorite toy from their play could act as a big punishment while for others it wouldn’t matter as long as they have their mobiles or tablets to play with. Think carefully about removing which privilege from the child so that it is going to be effective.
Removing privileges that your child doesn’t care about will not be an effective way. Carefully match the privilege with the punishment offered. For example: not letting a teen hang out with friends anymore when they do not return home on time.
3. Send them to bed early
Most parents believe sending kids early to bed is an effective punishment idea for kids and trust us that it is an effective tip to help your child prepare for preschool. While punishment is not to let the child suffer, you need to let it happen naturally as the result of bad behavior. Sending your child early to bed because they misbehave or throw tantrums will make them realize that they will be sent to bed early when they do something that is not to be done.
For example, you can send the child half an hour early to bed on the days the child skips their breakfast. By this, they will know what happens when they skip breakfast.
4. Cancel play dates
Whenever possible keep reminding your child of what happens when they misbehave or throw tantrums for unwanted reasons. Kids love play dates, right? One punishment idea for kids is getting children to understand that they will not be allowed for a play date if they break the rule or do not clean up the mess created by them.
For example, say to your child: “if you do not arrange your toys back to their place you will not be allowed to play with them and the playdate will be canceled.
5. Use funny punishment ideas for students
This technique works better for teachers and parents who want to change the negative behavior of the child into positive behavior. Introduce a new skill that could help the child use their energy into positive things. This could be anything such as painting the child’s face or letting the child dance to a funny song until she is tired etc. Alternatively, you can let the child write different punishment ideas and pick a chit from it to do.
6. Make them do something rewarding
One of the great punishment ideas for kids is engaging them in doing something effective that is rewarding. It could be anything from helping you in the kitchen or assisting an elderly couple next door. Also, kids crave attention and will find creative ways to get it. So, the more you encourage them, the better they will do. Also, they will learn that every bad deed they make follows with consequences in life & will also help in developing social skills.
7. Art of segregation
If you are looking for innovative punishment ideas for kids, the art of waste segregation method works best. Parents and family play a major role in providing a fun learning environment for kids to learn. Since children repeat whatever, we ask them to do, it is best to give them a punishment that works better for the home and themselves. Also, when children have started practicing the waste management values that we have taught, don’t forget to appreciate them for their behaviors. Finally, don’t forget to give them a pair of gloves while they do this.
8. Earn your pocket money
If you are looking for punishment ideas for kids/teens who are overspending, the best way is to cut off their pocket money. In case your child is in their teens, ask them to earn their money themselves. For example, your kid could make arts and crafts and could sell them in the nearby neighborhood and use the money earned out of it. This not only acts as a punishment but also lets your child realize the value of money.
9. Water plants
Kids are so occupied with a lot of things nowadays that they forget the importance of nature. Allowing children to water plants every day for a week allows them to take punishments healthily. Instead of the routine punishments that make both the parents and the kids frustrated, introducing punishments that are refreshing for the child could also be welcoming. Also, the child will get a break from their daily routine and spend time doing this regularly.
10. Reverse roles
If you are looking for creative punishment ideas for kids, you could play the concept of the reversing role. Kids wouldn’t even have dreamt of playing your role. It is not only fun for toddlers but also makes them realize how difficult it is to handle kids throwing tantrums and misbehaving. You could choose any one of the punishments from the list and make them do it.
For instance, if your child wastes the food cooked by you, you can pretend to eat with your child and act like you waste the food cooked by him/her. This way they will know that it is not right to waste food.
Related Reading: The 10 Worst Things You Can Say To Your Child
11. Designing an apology card
The word sorry becomes a common usage for kids for all the mistakes they have committed. Say for example that the child breaks something or misses doing a task asked by you, the normal response would be sorry. Instead of accepting the child’s apology as sorry, use creative punishment ideas for kids such as asking them to design an apology card.
You can ask the child to be more creative by using apology concepts or designing a card using multiple colors or characters of their choice. This way, the child learns to be creative and tries to find out more ways in being imaginative.
Conclusion
Punishments are usually given as the consequences for a child’s unaccepted or misbehavior. While parents think using punishments would make their child disciplined, they should also keep in mind that it is not something that is to be used for making the child scared of you. Instead, it is to teach the child the importance of good behavior.
Parents use different concepts and techniques as punishment ideas for kids. Remember, when your child doesn’t care about punishment, it probably is a wrong punishment. However, increasing the severity of the punishment isn’t going to make it effective.
Finally, offer punishments to what the child did and let it be immediate for them. This helps children to understand what the instantaneous consequences would be while something wrong or inappropriate is done.