You're Fired! | 2011

After several attempts on disciplining Jakjak when he does his naughty bits, I believe we have finally found a compromise between being fair and being mean. Jakjak, being an only child (for now, we hope) has been on the receiving end of spoil-dom in the last five years. Admittedly, it was not really what we had in mind. I am assuming that for the simple reason of being an only child, we had managed to give him the impression of him being a little prince (to be honest, he really is a prince). 


Over the course of the years, some trial and error, a few misunderstandings and some heart breaks, Jakjak simply must understand the consequences of his actions. We have tried to lock him up in his room when he threw a ride-on car (you know, those big plastic cars that he rides on?) when he had a tantrum. It made things worse because he kept on crying and gave us a headache. We have tried to smack him with a "pow-pow" stick on the bum when he threw a tantrum and kicked me on the ... err ... family jewels. That didn't work either because for a parent, it really will hurt you more than it hurts your child. We tried slapping his hand when he scratched his claws ... err ... fingers on his mum when he didn't want to take a bath. That didn't work because he kept on laughing. Apparently, he was ticklish with that sort of thing.


Today though, with all the "toys" available to him (PSP, X-box, Cable TV, DVD, etc.), we introduced him to the word: "grounded". We made him understand the meaning of the word and surprisingly he keeps to his word. The first time we tried it out, he was grounded for 2 days, and he did not touch any of his electronic toys for 2 days. In fact, he was borrowing the PSP from me and I was about to give it to him, he suddenly says to me: "Oops, Dad, remember, I'm grounded?", and we left the PSP to play toy cars in his room. It's a relief to finally find something that works for everyone that does not break anyone's heart.


After one TV show though, the little prince blurts out: "Dad, being fired is like being grounded right, so Dad, you're fired!" ... I was grounded from being a dad for the rest of the night. Sheesh!