New Punishments?

Question

My friend found that her twelve year old was hiding junk food under her bed. Her daughter is on a strict diet and exercise program. The girl already has all electronics taken away for someting she did earlier. She is out of ways to punish her. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Punishing her is just wrong.  She obviously has some kind of eating disorder.  I strongly suggest getting rid of the junk food, as others suggested.  I think the whole family should get in on the act of changing to a healthy lifestyle.  The practice of do as I say not as I do is outdated.  

The girl could really benefit from counseling, seeing a nutritionist (if possible), and POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.  To punish her will only create more secretiveness, resentment, shame, and quite possibly, a life-threatening disorder like bulimia or anorexia.

Answer 2

How does she get the junk food? Is it something that other members of the household buy? If so, that's the first step~~toss out all the junk and make sure that no more comes in. If the daughter bought it with her own allowance, stop giving her money. If she's on a diet and exercise program, I'm guessing that there's a health reason for it. She definitely needs to be punished for the dishonesty.

How good of shape is your friend in? She may need to be up at the crack of dawn taking the kid on a mile or two jog every morning or bike rides or anything else that the daughter does not want to do. Keep her as active as possible and away from junk as much as possible. It means a lot more mom and daughter time needs to be spent, but will be worth it in the long run.

Answer 3

How is the child getting all the junk food since she cant drive to the store and get it herself?  Consequenses (not punishments) are meant to teach the child a lesson when he/she has failed.   consequenses should fit the offense.

The parent should eliminate all junk food from the house.  That should solve that.  But a deeper issue is the child's dishonesty.   There are lots of movies and educational videos about eating disorders.  They should get a few and watch them together.  The parent should have the child write a report on eating disorders.  I don't think punishing is the answer since the child didnt do anything malicous or mean.  She needs help, not a punishment.

Answer 4

Yes, a great punishment is to talk with the girl and try to understand her feelings and support her through all she is going through. That's a good punishment.

After that go and take some parenting courses.

Answer 5

it is actually a punishment for the parent . accompany the child 24x7 just to let her feel how apprehensive the parent is for the child,behaving like a watchman is a strict NO NO. the child will be corrected without any punishment. Punishments to children are actually unattended duties of the parents.

Answer 6

Obviously the child has some emotional issues and she is using food for comfort. She doesn't need punishment, she needs encouragement and probably some counseling to find out other ways to deal with her issues besides eating.