How do you guys discipline your kids?

I'm sure this has been discussed before but sorry...I haven't seen it (and I'm not on the boards much). I have three kiddos and all of them 3 y/o. Although my DD is turning 4 soon, they are still a handful. When my kids start to misbehave, I start talking to them sternly. If that doesn't work, then I follow-up with time-outs. Now if that doesn't work, then I do spank. Does anyone still spank anymore?

And do you let your kids 'talk-back' to you? I was raised not to talk back when my parents were scolding me. Ya know, the kind of 'talk-back' that displays an attitude with the tone.

So where do you guys stand?

THANKS IN ADVANCE

 

My kids copy EVERYTHING I DO and I don't currently have them hitting each other or me, so I am holding off on any kind of spanking. I'm not against it per se, but I know that they will do it if I do, so I can't.

I use 1-2-3 magic and take away privileges and use their "currency" against them. (Night light, lovies, music etc.)

 

My oldest will be 4 in September and my boys are almost 2.5. If it's something they KNOW they aren't supposed to do, they go straight to t.o. For example, climbing on the counter, screaming at the table, hitting, talking back, etc. For other things that don't come up on a "many times a day" occurance, I will give the direction once, then start counting. For example, if we are outside and I tell them it's time to go inside I only say it once, then if they are not heading my way within a couple seconds (literally) I start counting to 3. If they aren't heading my way by 3 they go to TO.

My boys were starting to challenge me about sitting in TO. They get a reminder to sit until I come talk to them but if they get up again then they get a swat on the bottom. For a long time I went with the theory, "They aren't allowed to hit, so neither can I" so I am sure to always refer to it as a swat or a spank and later we discuss that only Mommy and Daddy can do that, and only when they are making the choice to not listen.

All three kids were starting to challenge me so I had to become no nonsense about our discipline. I used to give them a reminder ("We don't hit" then if it happened again, "If you hit him again you'll go to TO.") That's why for the hard and fast rules they get no more warnings. It's straight to TO. I've been "firmer faster" (my new mantra!) for about a week and I have noticed a huge change.

I do this wherever we are. If we're shopping at Wal Mart they may get a TO at the end of an aisle while the rest of us chat and look at things right around the corner. If my DH is with us, one of us will take the offender outside and do a TO near the door, even if they are screaming bloody murder. My kids hate riding in the shopping cart, so my rule is that they must touch the cart while we shop. If they let go and start to wander, they go straight in the cart. I've been taking them shopping on my own for a while now and most of the time it's been great.

I think the huge key is to decide what and how you're going to handle your discipline and then follow up with as close to 100% consistency as possible.

 

I agree that whatever you do, be consistent.

I use timeouts. For one, its easy, he takes it and that is that. My other guy is tougher, so he tends to be there more often. However, they know if they do something wrong and don't say sorry or keep up the action, there are consequences.