If you have kids, you will sooner or later have to figure out how to punish them. Whether the crime is big or small, you always want to make sure the punishment fits the offense.

If you are pondering on how to punish a child without losing your temper, here are the top 8 punishments for kids which are not harsh and will make sure that they learn the importance of following the rules.

1. Get Creative With Time-outs

Here, we tend to tell the child to stand in a corner with his/ her finger on their lips or fold their hands and just stand. This way, they know it’s going to end and would repeat what they did wrong. Instead, ask them to do something in that corner- like do a drawing, color it or maybe learn a poem. They have to finish it before time runs out.

2. Set a timer

Do you find your child bring overly slow at certain things? Let’s take an example, eating. Set a timer in front of your child, and ask them to finish within the given time. In the coming time, with practice, you should see them finish their chore quickly.

3. Let Them Serve Dinner

Some children can be chaos at mealtime. If they don’t seem to understand the value of food, or trouble you to eat on time, have them serve food to everyone at the table. They learn a valuable life lesson as well.

4. Less Play, More Sleep

Kids love playing and just hate sleeping. If your child disobeys something or misbehaves get them to bed 15 minutes earlier than their usual bedtime. They would realize they are losing out on their leisure time like watching television or playing a video game. They will learn to behave appropriately.

5. Create a punishment jar

Sit with your child, and write some punishments with your child in chits of paper and put them in the jar. You can decorate them with your child. Whenever they misbehave or don’t obey instructions, ask your child to pick out a chit and follow the punishment mentioned.

6. Role Exchange

You must be aware of the role-reversal game played for fun, but when making this work as a punishment, you will make your little one do one of your tasks that they find boring, like cleaning, mopping, laundry, vacuuming, etc. and you will act as the little child. Some ground and time-off rules can be set in advance so that kids don’t go all out when the roles are exchanged. They should know what is expected out of them if they have to behave like a grown-up.

7. Exercise

Punishing your child doesn’t have to be a nightmare. After working on a few creative ways to have this sorted, you as a mother will be at peace as well. In the process, your child will learn where to stop, listen and obey instructions given to them.

8. Warning Code

Have a warning code between you and your child that you can tell them in public that indicates that if they continue to do what they’re doing, they might get into trouble after reaching home. For instance, if you see your kid getting too aggressive at a public place, you can say something like “hey! Pull up your socks”. This will not embarrass them in front of their friends, while at the same time help them understand that they are doing something wrong

Punishing your child doesn’t have to be a nightmare. After working on a few creative ways to have this sorted, you as a mother will be at peace as well. In the process, your child will learn where to stop, listen and obey instructions given to them.



Do you punish your kids creatively? We would love to hear your methods!