I was my parents' first child, so I suppose that makes me the "practice kid". I was also one of those kids that would consistently do the same things over and over again, despite how many times my parents told me "No". It was partly because the punishment for breaking the rules was never anything I saw as being especially inconvenient.
For example: I was super-pumped that I was 3 years old and able to write words, and my parents would reward me for this. I thought that it would be cool to write them on the wall, accompanied by illustrations to show my comprehension of the words I was writing. My parents weren't impressed. The punishment was generally, "Okay, sit in time out for half an hour and think about what you've done!" or, "Okay, now you don't get to have dessert / have a story read to you tonight." Granted, I didn't like any of these punishments, but I really decided that they weren't all that bad.
When I was about four, I got spanked, but VERY rarely. It was only when I'd do something particularly horrible, such as thinking it was a good idea to ride my bike in the street, jump out of trees, or something that was seriously dangerous. That transferred over into, "If I do this, is this going to get me spanked? 'Cause I really don't like getting spanked..." so I legitimately listened to my parents a lot more. I stopped getting spanked when I was nine or ten, but it really did cause me to think a lot more about possible repercussions to everything I did. Additionally, I was never spanked hard. It didn't even really hurt, and they never used a belt or anything like that. It was always their hand, and always just a little slap, then, "Go think about what you've done..." usually after they explained why what I did was wrong.
I doubt that I would ever spank my children, and my sisters didn't ever get spanked, but I understand also that I was a particularly difficult child.
__________________
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
|