hi all,
i have 3 children in all, my youngest is 7 1/2mths and my 2nd youngest is my son who is four then i have my daughter who is the eldest at the age of 7.
we have been trying every thing to discipline our two eldest.
we at first tryed the sticker chart and if they had so many sad faces a pusnisment would be put in place, etc favoured toy would be removed, this never worked for long,
then we have tryed the naughty corner , they stand there but it doesnt seem to take no effect as a while later they are back to being there same old selves again,
my four yr old seems to be going through a stage of smacking and screaming when told no,and my 7 year old seems to think she is boss by giving lots of attitude and answering back, me and my husband are constantly argueing due to them being bad, so there is friction between us, we dont know wot to do with them any more, any tips on how to change them. as we are going into the ground as a family, due to the kids and us to, as we do shout at them alot due to them not listening.

I feel for you Smith, especially as this problem is now effecting your relationship I have big age gaps between my children and dealing with one who wouldn`t listen was bad enough but three must be a nightmare.

My big punishment and one I used as a last resort was their bedtime because I knew that hurt them, in my house it meant bedtime too, no playing, so it wasn`t just a matter of them being in their room to play, bedtime was laying down to sleep, no light or tv, although we have all always had music on during the night, that I never stopped because I couldn`t sleep in silence.

I would start by warning and if they carried on half an hour came off, if they played up again, I would remind them they had already lost half an hour and if it carried on then another half an hour would come off and I always carried the punishment through, no matter how much time they lost. My littlen is 9 years old and goes to bed at 8pm and I do threaten her with it but nine times out of ten she doesn`t end up going to bed early because she would hate to miss her soaps, so it has the effect I want.

I hope this helps, when things have got to this stage, use against what you know they will hate, they will soon realise, especially if the older child is going to bed before or at the same time as the youngest, I used to hate that personally