Discipline....Or something like it

I was reading a book on discipline yesterday. The theories are great. It is just that my kids do not seem to behave better no matter what sort of discipline I dish out. Only one thing has worked with some of my kids and not every time. That is rewards bribes. Now I do know that bribes are not the best way to go. Bribes do not always work. Especially with my 3 year old. I will ask him to do something. He will refuse. I will then bribe him to do it. This just makes him cry until I either cry or give in. Not the best way to discipline a child.

There are many forms of discipline to try. Before kids I always thought it was as simple as teaching a child right from wrong. How wrong I was. My kids know right from wrong. They just choose not to always do the right thing. Over the years I have tried the following:

• Time out. This has never worked.
• Star charts. My kids really do not care about stars
• Yelling. This is useless. It has never worked for me.
• Smacking. This never works and makes me feel horrible
• sending my kids to their rooms. This just makes them throw stuff around
• A rewards system. I have never fully understood the difference between rewards and bribes
• threatening to leave wherever we are and go home right away. Unfortunately there are times when I need to do something and cannot leave so it is pointless threatening them.
• Taking toys away. My kids do not seem to care.

I know parents do not often admit to having trouble with discipline but after talking to some parents, I have found that I am not the only one who struggles with this and that is backed up by the number of books and TV shows dedicated solely to discipline.
To all the parents out there I wish you the best when it comes to disciplining your kids. I shall continue to fumble around the wide world of discipline until something works, well works most of the time anyway.