A punishment I can enjoy

By kate on November 19th, 2007

When Ruby is being punished, I almost always go for the timeout. But sometimes, a timeout just isn’t possible – in the car, for example. It took me a while to figure out something I could punish her with in the car (for such misdeeds as not listening when I tell her to come and get in the car, or being noisy when someone’s on the phone).

But as Ruby got more and more interested in listening to music, I realized that was the solution. If I want to promise a reward, I can tell her I’ll put on her favorite CD. If I need to punish her in the car, I can threaten to put on NPR (“talking” as Ruby calls it).

It’s a great system because I enjoy the car ride either way, and the punishment doesn’t slow us down when we’re on our way somewhere.