Tag Archives: punishment

The Naughty Step

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To many of us I imagine, this is what Supernanny’s all about- The Naughty Step has almost become synonymous with her.

How it Works:

1. Give your child a warning to give him a chance to correct his behaviour

2. If he carries on, give him an ultimatum – ‘if you do that again you’re going on the naughty step’.

3. If he does it again, take him straight to the naughty step and tell him to stay there for ‘a minute for each year of his age’.

4. When you put him on the step you remind him why he’s there.

5. At the end of his time, ask for an apology and for him to tell you what he’s apologising for.

6. When he’s apologised, praise him and move on.

How it Worked For Us:

You see Supernanny taming horrendous problem children on her TV show with this technique but the sad truth is, it really didn’t work for us.

Both boys (when tested) bounced off the naughty step each time I sat them on it, so much so that I think it actually became a game for them.

Go on Harry, get off the step! – said Ben laughing, despite the fact that Harry was being punished for hitting him.

In the end I think it just taught them that I have no real authority since I had no way of actually enforcing the punishment. I much prefer Spock’s idea of creating a direct consequence of bad behaviour which they can learn from.

Supernanny & Discipline

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When your child does something unacceptable, you have to back up your rules with firm and fair control.

Having studied Dr Spock’s approach to discipline during the earlier part of my ‘experiment’ I’m interested to see that Supernanny doesn’t really talk about her philosophy of discipline (which Spock says is about teaching a child the right way to behave). Instead, she seems to dwell much more on the ‘punishment’ side of it.

It’s a very no-nonsense approach and seems to focus on establishing order and control rather than looking at the underlying reasons for bad behaviour and how to address them so the child actually learns WHY what he/she is doing is wrong.

I do however agree with these bits:

-Be consistent, stick to your guns

-Each parent must do the same thing and back each other up

-Act immediately so the child links the punishment to the bad behaviour