16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (2024)

    "My dad's favorite punishment was donating our allowance money to charity."

    by Audrey EngvalsonBuzzFeed Staff

    When we shared a list of parents' most creative punishments, BuzzFeed readers chimed in to share their own. These are way more creative than getting sent to your room!

    ABC

    1. This cooperative punishment:

    "My parents used to have my brother and I hold hands and say 10 nice things about each other when we were fighting. Almost always, we would end up laughing. I guess it was effective!"

    wyfy35

    2. This impromptu book club:

    "I had to read a self-help and personal growth book and have a book discussion with my mom when I was done reading it."

    bethanyb4939833ab

    16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (2)

    Bounce

    3. This definition discipline:

    "One time, I told my dad that doing chores was torture and that I refused to be tortured anymore. So, instead of forcing me to do chores, he made me copy the entry on torture from our encyclopedia until I was begging to do the dishes instead."

    cindyg4706bd868

    4. This WiFi no no:

    "Whenever I was being a douchebag, my parents would use the 'My Verizon' feature and turn off all of the data and cell service to my phone until they chose to start it again."

    anneo42f4e5e98

    5. This ice cream fake-out:

    "My sister and I had been at each other’s throats all day, so we were both shocked when my mom said she was taking us to Dairy Queen. We pull up to the drive-thru, she asks us what we want, and we give our usual orders. My mom rolls the window down and orders ice cream only for herself! Then, she ate it in the car in front of us the whole way home. It was soul crushing for us, but surprisingly effective."

    ryleighf

    16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (3)

    NBC

    6. This song suffering:

    "My dad had an eccentric client and every year for Christmas he would visit and bring us a weird gift. One year, he brought a clock that played a synthesized Beatles song every hour. As a punishment, my parents made my sister and I carry it around the house for 24 hours. It was AWFUL."

    katelync4d7c6ef47

    7. This fashion faux pas:

    "I was being a bratty 6-year-old refusing to get dressed for school. I was promptly taken to school in my nightdress (my school uniform was handed to my teacher). I got myself dressed pretty quickly after that."

    Sazzlemynazzle

    8. This 60 Minutes torture:

    "I’m a twin, and growing up my brother was always trying to get me in trouble. One day, my brother tells me he knows this awesome new word and I spend the next 10 minutes parading around the house singing the word ‘asshole’. When my mom found out that my brother taught me this, they made my brother spend the whole day watching reruns of 60 Minutes that they had taped. They told him, if you’re grown up to swear, you’re grown up to watch the news. They even had pop quizzes after every episode."

    maddsb

    9. This dirty deed:

    "I came home late after I forgot to do dishes and wanted to go to bed. I found all the dishes, clean and dirty, on my bed. I never forgot after that!"

    stephaniev23

    10. This modest donation:

    "My dad's favorite punishment was donating our allowance money to charity."

    courtneys4bb338d36

    16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (5)

    Comedy Central

    11. This role reversal:

    "My sister and I are complete opposites. Growing up, she was this bubbly, popular, outdoorsy-type of girl while I barely had any friends and I always preferred to stay inside and read books. Whenever we would fight, my parents kept her inside and made her read a book, and they forced me to play outside."

    v4c78b7b8a

    12. This brutal consequence:

    "When I was younger, my older brother would take my doll. My father kept warning him to stop it, but when he saw my brother take it again, he told my brother, 'Since you like the doll so much, now you get to carry it around.' For punishment, my middle school-aged brother had to carry around my doll to school, basketball practice, and a baseball tournament."

    dguinn

    13. This sibling love:

    "My mom would make us sit and hug each other for a couple hours if we were fighting. We were absolutely not allowed to be mean or tell each other we hated each other."

    lpt2008lt

    16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (6)

    Fox / Netflix

    14. This workout routine:

    "My dad would make us do 100 push-ups, sit ups, or arm circles. Before we started the exercise, my dad would say, 'You’re either going to get stronger or smarter, and today it looks like you’re going to get stronger.' I was a little sh*t, so let’s just say I was a ripped little girl."

    tawnym2

    15. This long-term benefit:

    "This one was actually pretty genius, but growing up, anytime my brother and I said we were bored, my parents made us clean. At the time, it just helped eliminate the word from our vocabulary, but a genius side effect is that now when we’re bored, we both go ahead and clean. It worked out pretty well."

    hipsterpenguin2986

    16. Finally, this amazing poker night:

    "When my brother and I were in middle school, we were playing blackjack and were gambling our Halloween candy. Well, my brother threw the one king size candy bar he got into the pot, so I threw my king size bar in too. I won them both and my brother wanted his back saying it was just a game and he didn’t really want to give his to me. We got into such a massive fight over it and asked my dad. My dad walked over, picked up both our candy bars, ate them in front of us, and said, 'First rule of gambling: the house always wins.'"

    skailyr

    Warner Bros.

    Did you get a really strange, oddly creative punishment as a kid? Tell us in the comments below!

    Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

    16 Parents Who Had Some Super Creative Punishments (2024)

    FAQs

    What punishments do parents give? ›

    The 5 Most Common Forms of Punishment
    • Yelling – scolding, name calling, demanding.
    • Withdrawing or Withholding – taking away privileges which may or may not have anything to do with their unacceptable behavior.
    • Using “Logical Consequences” – i.e. if the child is late for dinner, they are made to go without eating.

    What is creative punishment? ›

    Creative punishment has been defined as an attempt to design a mode of constructive punishment that considers the needs and characteristics of the offender and his/her motivation. Under this concept, a sentencing plan is developed which meets the needs of the offender, justice, and community or victim reparation.

    Can you punish a 16 year old? ›

    You can't punish kids into acceptable behavior.” Rather, an effective consequence should encourage your child to change their behavior — whether that is abiding by the house rules or treating people respectfully. So first, you need to identify the behavior you want to change.

    What is the most common result when parents punish rather than discipline? ›

    And most often, punishment changes the way a child thinks about himself. A child who endures serious punishment may begin to think, "I'm bad." Instead of thinking he made a bad choice, he may believe he's a bad person.

    What is a good punishment for a 17 year old? ›

    Effective methods of discipline can include leaving room for natural consequences, instilling logical consequences, implementing reparations, and creating learning opportunities. Counterproductive methods may include corporal punishment, taking away healthy outlets, and eliminating all privileges.

    What is an inappropriate punishment for a child? ›

    Some examples of inappropriate discipline:

    Unreasonable restraining. Consistently moving a child to other spaces away from play areas. Yelling, belittling or humiliating.

    What is the hardest punishment? ›

    Severe historical execution methods include the breaking wheel, hanged, drawn and quartered, mazzatello, boiling to death, death by burning, execution by drowning, feeding alive to predatory animals, death by starvation, immurement, flaying, disembowelment, crucifixion, impalement, crushing, execution by elephant, ...

    What is a nice punishment? ›

    Positive punishment generally refers to adding a stimulus to decrease an unwanted behavior. For example, if your child does poorly on a test, you might require them to spend additional time studying or if a child throws a tantrum over doing chores or neglects them entirely, you might assign them additional tasks.

    What is extreme punishment? ›

    : punishment that is very harsh and too severe for the crime. The law forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

    How do you discipline a 16 year old who won't listen? ›

    Here are some effective discipline tips for teens and kids:
    1. Let consequences do the talking. ...
    2. Deliver consequences calmly, compassionately and promptly. ...
    3. Don't be afraid to set limits. ...
    4. Choose your battles. ...
    5. Praise good behavior.

    When your 16 year old is disrespectful? ›

    Disrespectful behaviour is a common part of teenage development. This phase usually passes. You can avoid or handle disrespect with positive communication, strong relationships and clear family rules. It's best to avoid arguing, being defensive and nagging.

    What is normal 17 year old behavior? ›

    They are increasingly taking care of their bodies (eating right, getting exercise). They are caring for their relationships (managing their feelings and impulses, empathizing and working through conflict, being dependable and keeping promises). They are managing homework and extracurriculars.

    What is psychologically damaging to a child? ›

    Emotional abuse happens when a child is repeatedly made to feel worthless, unloved, alone or scared. Also known as psychological or verbal abuse, it is the most common form of child abuse. It can include constant rejection, hostility, teasing, bullying, yelling, criticism and exposure to family violence.

    What are the four C's of discipline? ›

    The Four Cs are Choices, Consequences, Consistency and Compassion, and each is as important as the next, and none can be left out of effective parenting.

    What are the effects of lack of parental discipline? ›

    They will be willful, selfish, and generally unpleasant company. They will lack self-control. They will not have social skills that are important for making friends such as empathy, patience, and knowing how to share. They will not know what is appropriate behavior.

    What are the most common punishments? ›

    Here's a rundown of the most common punishments.
    • Incarceration. Incarceration means time in a local jail or a state or federal prison. ...
    • Fines. ...
    • Diversion. ...
    • Probation. ...
    • Restitution. ...
    • Community service. ...
    • Defendant 1. ...
    • Defendant 2.
    May 15, 2024

    What punishment should be given to child? ›

    Make the consequences brief. For example, time-out (see Forms of discipline) should last one minute per year of the child's age, to a maximum of five minutes. Parents should mean what they say and say it without shouting at the child. Verbal abuse is no less damaging than physical punishment.

    What are examples of bad punishments? ›

    Can you identify examples of negative punishment? Losing access to a toy, being grounded, and losing reward tokens are all examples of negative punishment. In each case, something good is being taken away as a result of the individual's undesirable behavior.

    What is positive punishment for parents? ›

    Positive punishment generally refers to adding a stimulus to decrease an unwanted behavior. For example, if your child does poorly on a test, you might require them to spend additional time studying or if a child throws a tantrum over doing chores or neglects them entirely, you might assign them additional tasks.

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