Mother of a Man-Child

One of the key challenges for parents of a man-child, or two in our case, who are now bigger than me and almost as tall as their father, is how to discipline them.  When once a good whack might have served to deliver the required response (OMG – what sort of parent am I?), it’s a little difficult now.

So we have found other means, that seem to satisfy the fury of a parent, and rile Man-Child I and Man-Child II sufficiently to make them realise we are 1) very angry, and 2) not going to take it any more.  Ooh, them’s fighting words aren’t they!

For your general amusement, and perhaps inspiration, here is a handy list of disciplinary actions we have taken on occasion:

• Slam laptop shut and whisk it away mid Facebook chat or update (and don’t return it for the rest of the night)
• Eject PS3 game without any warning, or turn it off at the powerpoint
• Confiscate the PS3 games or laptops for a week – that WILL hurt them, trust me
• Disconnect the cables from the sound system, thereby rendering it useless but reducing the doof doof noise substantially
• Throw them out the front door, or back door, in whatever they’re wearing (I don’t care if it’s boxers on a 5 degree night!)
• Send them to their rooms, or to bed – yep, early night, don’t care what time it is
• Tell them they’re grounded for a month, or 2 months, or even a year (yep, you’re sure to follow through with that one)
• Cancel their pocket money for the same period of time (again, yep highly likely to follow through)

Okay, so we’re not perfect, far from it.  But it does feel good when you slam that computer shut.  Any other thoughts or successful tactics welcome.