How do you punish a teenager? They are too old for spankings, time outs, corners, writing.... grounding doesnt seem to bug a lot of them...

so how do you keep them in line?

My mother used to tell me that she would stand on a step or a ladder, and that your children are never too old or too big to smack. Then again, I was 12when I was finally became taller than her, she was 5'4 and Im 6'. :D

No point in grounding them and sending them to their room since they've so many goodies in there nowadays, between the Playstations, TVs, music players etc... it's not a punishment. I send myself to his room and kick him out. It's quite enjoyable being grounded in there, it's a pretty cool room.

Just kidding! :D

Nothing works better for me than taking away computer time. My son just lives to be online chatting with his gaming pals and it's the only thing that makes much impact really. Failing that, confiscating his joypad so he can't use his PS2. Once, it was the whole computer that got removed from his room completely and you'd have thought I'd removed a limb, the look of horror on his face.

you'd have thought I'd removed a limb, the look of horror on his face.

hahaha Too funny, I can imagine the fun times I will have when I get to start that. :)

HA HA HA, i'd totally steal my kids computer and games!

Every parent has to take time to chill with Mario once in a while! :D

In this household, we are all geeks so its okay, we know how to share. :)

I take away game system and computers. Phone privileges and grounding work with my youngest. My oldest didn't care if he went anywhere or talked to anyone. Take away anything they enjoy doing. The only thing I would never take away is books. The love of reading is too important to use as punishment. Even though, that would have been the thing my oldest son missed the most.

My mom grounded me once; the summer I was 17. For some dumb thing I said that hurt her feelings after she insisted I do all the dishes, wash the car, mop the kitchen and vacuum and dust the rest of the house plus the laundry. Needless to say sitting at home all weekend on the 4th of July holiday was less than pleasant. It did nothing to curb my mouth however, as I still read books, wrote poetry and painted the way I normally did.

I think taking time to discuss the issue and why it happened and why it wasn't appropriate should be the first step of any punishment once a child can conceive the idea of feelings. Timeouts are great, but they don't teach you why what you did was wrong. Then going for whatever the child perceives as the thing they do the most whether it be the TV, computer, cell phone, etc. I had no electronics the week I was grounded and my door had to be left open 24/7 which was annoying. Allowing your kids only a light and an alarm clock will make them think about the talk you've had.

That person really never said if the sharing was good or not. :confused: