Today I have finally had it with my kids fighting with each other, trying to talk me out of punishments, or not obeying me the first time I ask them to do something. So my husband and I have come up with a new form of punishment using these clocks. When the kids misbehave, we take the clocks off the wall and throw them at the kids. OK, I'm just kidding!!! But don't tell me you haven't thought of throwing something at your children at some point in their lives. If you tell me no, I know you are lying. The simple fact is that our kids need us to set rules and boundaries for them to keep order in their lives.
Recently, a friend of mine told me about a new system of discipline she is using. She told me about a poster she created with house rules, free spaces, privileges, and X's. While I completely agreed with this idea of discipline, I also knew that I couldn't be consistent enough to make it work in our house. So I came up with a simpler method of discipline.
I purchased these inexpensive clocks, took the plastic covers off of them and hung them in our kitchen. The clocks are reset to the kids' bedtimes each morning. Whenever we need to speak to the kids about not behaving or obeying, they move the hands of the clocks back five minutes. Consequently, their bedtime moves back and they may miss cartoons with Daddy or even bedtime snack.
This has worked out pretty well for us. There have been a few occasions in public that I simply had to say "five minutes" instead of yelling and it really got their attention! In fact, it has been a miracle for us; you'll notice that on the picture above their clocks are still set at the original bedtimes for the day. You know I didn't change the times just for the picture, don't you? Because my kids would never do anything like stand in the open front door complete naked waving at the people walking by; or argue at school so loudly that all of the people in the library stop talking just to stare at them; or continually throw a sticky rubber rabbit in the air so that it would stick to our kitchen ceiling; or sneak up behind me with a dead roach shoving it into my face (wait that was my husband)- well, you get the idea. No, our kids would never do any of those things. But just in case they would, we are going to try our new clock system.
We have all been told that God is a God of order and that is true. Just like we need our house rules orderly, we need our lives orderly as well. I have said this before and I will say it again. God does not give us rules to live by to make our lives more complicated; His rules are for OUR good. If you gossip about someone and they find out, you are in trouble. If you overspend and aren't a good steward of money, you are in trouble. If you loose your temper and yell at your boss, you are in trouble. Next time you discipline your children to keep that order in your house, remember that God disciplines us to help keep order in our lives also. Don't make Him take a clock off the wall and throw it at you today!
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