We were over at a friend’s place tonight and the naughty corner came up as a topic of discussion – they Believe! in the naughty corner, same as us.
Consistency is the key to making the naughty corner work for you. And not resorting to smacking.
When I was young smacking seemed to work fine. I remember living in fear of the large wooden spoon hanging on our wall. I remember it as being about a meter long, although it was probably closer to 60cm. Funny how when your parents are beating you with a tree, the tree takes on a disproportionate size.
My parents always knew when I’d done something wrong because the hook would be empty. Unfortunately I wasn’t very good with hiding spots – I’d put it under a cushion of the lounge and then sit on it.
But smacking doesn’t seem to work with kids these days (although maybe it’s the lack of woodturned hand to bum weaponry). The Supernanny knows her stuff though, and the naughty corner is King at our place.
How it works:
1. Child misbehaves. Explain behaviour is unacceptable. Avoiding words like bastard, bitch and ‘little shit’ let them know they’ll be on the naughty mat if they do it again.
2. Child misbehaves AGAIN. Have wife restrain you to avoid any smacking. Put the little so-and-so firmly in a corner, getting down to their level to explain what they did wrong. Ask wife to let go of your arms.
3. Time out. They stay in the corner a minute for every year they’ve been alive, not for every year they’ve aged you.
4. Apology. Take a deep breath. Explain to them again why they were in the naughty corner and demand (ask) they apologize (like you mean it Godammit) for their misbehaviour.
5. Child is set free. Hug and kiss child like you love them and let them go. Be careful to avoid kicking their ass as they tottle off. Remembering to avoid a sarcastic tone, relax your jaw enough so you can speak and say ‘thank you’ to your poppet for their heartfelt apology.
For more on the Supernanny visit the Supernanny Website
I was probably only smacked about 5 times in my entire childhood. Which, considering what I was like is not a very big number – my mum’s favourite saying was “You could test the patience of a saint!”
She had this wooden spoon – she’d drawn a smiley face on one side and an angry face on the other side. Just knowing it was there was enough of a deterrent! I was told that if the angry face was pointed at me, I was in big trouble.
I laugh about it now (it was probably only used on me once, quite half heartedly), but it’s probably scarred me for life somehow haha.