Discipline
So… I was wondering… How do YOU discipline your kids?? What do you do when they start acting fresh and answering back with witty comments for which you have no match? What WOULD or do you do if they say “stupid” or “idiot”?
Is good ol’ fashioned spanky the best way to go?
Or perhaps yelling…
Or threatening…
Or isolating (time out!)
Or…
I’ve been wondering about this quite a bit. I’ve been around lots of kids lately… ranging from almost 2-11 and every parent obviously has their unique approach. But some just don’t work. And some just leave you SO frustrated… You feel like pulling your hair out and shutting yourself in your room, not wanting to see those kids ever again!
Heh, being a parent is already one tough job, but MOST parents send their kids to school, which means they don’t have to deal with them AS much. When you’re homeschooling your kids, it’s so much harder. I’ve also noticed that a lot of times, it’s hard to have patience while teaching your own child. It’s pretty easy to just lash out on them when they don’t understand something or do it the wrong way or do SOMETHING (even if it’s the tiniest thing in the world) wrong. I personally believe that discipline isn’t just for the kids, it’s for you as well. I know, I know… I don’t have much of an idea what it’s like raising kids (yet), but I try to learn from everyone and everything before I have kids of my own… (I kind of think it’s important to start training yourself from before… successful parenting isn’t one of those things that come naturally. That’s a lie.)
What is your unique approach? How well does it work?
Muslims Home School Too 
I use to tutor three kids last summer with their Quran and Arabic. The problem was, they really didn’t want to be locked in the basement (it was really hot so i used the coldest room in the house and i turned it into a fun classroom) with me when they could be outside playing and running around.
So everytime I saw them getting moody or just loosing attention, I had them do some fun exercises and projects. In the end they really started enjoying coming over and started to pay attention and act a lot more politely alhamdulillah.
Reinforce, reward, and applaud positive behaviour, and redirect or reshape negative behaviour? This is the basic principal behind the ABA therapy that my son Khalid has on a daily basis (he has autism) and it has strongly affected how we deal with my daughter Iman as well. If she’s throwing a fit on the floor, she is picked up, walked through what she was *supposed* to be doing, and then encouraged to repeat the action on her own with lots of Yay! You did it! Good job!
But like I said, my kids are four and two, so I’m not sure how well this works on say… teenagers. :p