Is this the new Millennium punishment? Maybe....
I will admit, I am a pretty geeky guy. After all, my day job that pays the bills is as a Network Engineer. You can't survive in that world without embracing your inner geekiness! I am also a parent of "digital kids". I am amazed at how quickly my kids can pick this technology stuff up and use it so naturally. My youngest, who is four, is known for stealing the older kids devices to play games on and watch videos...
I found an article on Mashable that discusses what I like to call "tech punishment". Basically it discussing setting the boundaries and consequences up front, before the inappropriate behavior happens. Then the kids know they are going to be punished by having their tech time taken away. I know that with my older kids, this would work like a charm. They are constantly connected to their devices!
The article I reference is here;
http://mashable.com/2012/09/14/parents-using-tech-as-consequence/
This is a breakdown of the article is in Proactive Consequences and Reactive Consequences. Proactive of course being predetermined punishments. Reactive being an immediate reaction when you have had enough. I have to admit, I have been a very reactive type parent. I am the type of parent that can take quite a bit and then fly off the handle when I have had enough. Usually taking all privileges away from the kids when they misbehave. That is something I really need to improve upon. Don't get me wrong, my kids are usually very well behaved and I am
thankful for that. At the same time, they are kids and they will still
push the limit at times. I am going to work on being a more proactive parent by setting up some guidelines ahead of time so the kids know what will happen before the inappropriate behavior happens. Taking away tech devices is the perfect start. I will continue to write update posts on this subject in the future to let you know how it goes.
I post this hoping it helps other parents that may not be as "geeky" as me. It is hard enough for me to keep up with the kids, so I feel for you. I regularly share stuff like this on Google+ take the dive and add me to your circles. If you need more info on Google+, I wrote about that
here.
