Quote:
Originally Posted by livelaughlove22
The other day she went outside without permission, which she knows she isn't supposed to do.
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I could ask a lot of questions to get a better picture of exactly what happened there but, since I'm not a parent and can't offer all of the detailed advice the others are giving you, all I can offer is my own childhood experience.
I remember that the adults I obeyed were the ones I loved & respected OR feared! And the ones I did NOT obey (like the child in your story) were those that I did NOT love or respect. I don't know how your child feels about you or why she failed to obey your "rules" without a deeper look into the story. IMO, you might have to carefully examine all of the reasons that she disobeyed you and figure out if you have somehow alienated her or lost her respect for you. IMO, just jumping to some kind of punishment or discipline after a kid "misbehaves" is overlooking significant elements of the relationship that mere punishment may not be able to correct. If she does not love and respect you, punishing her will not make her come around even if she begins to obey you OUT OF FEAR and you will find your self having to punish her more and more as her contempt for you grows and grows. As a child, I was willing to do just about anything for those I loved and respected but those who consistently punished me slid further and further away from my heart and trust to where I would not have done anything at all for them except out of fear and even then, only halfheartedly. IMO, many adults FAIL to look at why and how they are inspiring a kid to misbehave and assume that only punishment is needed when punishment is the last thing the misbehaving kid wants but would rather have love, friendship, trust, honor, happiness, comfort, fun and a lot of other positives but cannot tell you in adult words and terms. A lot of my "misbehavior" was meant to get some kind of hopefully positive attention from my parents but often got severely negative attention so I began doing things behind their backs rather than invite their negative attentions. They, not I, often set up the situations that they then decided I needed to be punished over. They simply FAILED to examine their own misbehavior along with mine! I see in strings like this that nobody ever suggests that the adult could be wrong, mistaken or dishonest so everyone leaps in to tell the stressed adult how to CONTROL and DISCIPLINE their misbehaving child without ever considering that the adult
might be making a MISTAKE! It seems that everybody ASSUMES that adults are NEVER wrong whereas kids are ALWAYS WRONG but I remember a lot of times when the adults were more than wrong but nobody had the power or courage to call them to account for it - least of all their kids!
Please do not assume that this is an attack on you or your actions. This is just my childhood reality offered here as a possibility for your consideration. If it contains any useful info, use it - if not, ignore it.
Respectfully and hopefully,
jim