Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I think most parents struggle with setting proper incentives for their children. Sometimes it seems like no matter what you offer them, the kids don’t want to do what you want. For example, the girls have been enrolled in swimming classes for the past few weeks, but Grace has actually yet to go into the swimming pool, and Camille participates only reluctantly when she does. Apparently the prospect of extra story time, or lollipops, or toys, or whatever isn’t enough to overcome their distaste for swimming class. One of the strange things about it is that they do actually like to swim—for example, we took them to the same pool where they have their classes yesterday, and we had a hard time getting them to leave. So I guess there must be something about the classes that they don’t like.

Then, of course, come the situations when violations of the family rules require punishment. This occurs most often as a result of tantrums or not going to bed properly. Usually the punishments are as much punishments for Mom and Dad as they are for the kids, since we a) have to come up with a punishment that we actually are willing to enforce and b) have to deal with the almost inevitable tantrums that result. Occasionally we allow the girls themselves to make suggestions for what the proper punishment for a particular infraction should be, and it is often interesting to hear what they come up with. Sometimes with complete sincerity they suggest comically ludicrous punishments. For example, one time when they had stayed up talking after we had put them to bed, Camille suggested that a proper punishment would be “make us stand in the corner…forever!” Another time they suggested we throw all of their toys away, particularly the ponies and engines. However, the other day I think Grace may have hit upon a solution when she replied when asked how she ought to be punished for a particular bit of misbehavior, “No more swimming lessons?”