Schoolwork for punishment?

Question

My sister uses school work as punishment for her two kids. When they do something bad they have to sit on the stairs; the 8 year old gets 8 pages of work and the 5 year old gets 5 pages. Every time they get up from the stairs another page is added on, and if they refuse to do their pages they get 3 pages added on.

Although I am not a mother or a psychiatrist, do you think this could do damage? Could they start to associate school work for punisment in schoool? Or am I just over reacting?

Answer 1

Contrary to what some others here think, I think even spanking your 8 and 5 year old kids is better than using learning as punishment. This will indeed teach them that studying is something tedious to be avoided - which is the opposite of what one should try to teach them. Besides, if all those pages keep adding up - how do you make a kid "study" 10+ pages and control the outcome? Perhaps you can talk to your sister and help her find some better way of disciplining her children.

Answer 2

You are right. There are much better ways of discipline. School work should definitely not be viewed as a bad thing.

SD

Answer 3

NO WAY. This is probably one of the worst types of punishment that a child can get. If they do it for punishment, they're not gonna wanna do it all whether it be in school or for homework. What she needs to do is just try and get to the bottom of the situation, talk to her kids in a calm manner. Your definitely NOT overreacting, you need to get involved and talk to your sister. The best kind of punishment believe it or not is making a timeout corner or spot for them, but 1st talk to the kids to try and resolve the problem in a calm and orderly manner.

Answer 4

I think its better than smacking the c**p out of them.

Answer 5

It seem obvious to me that your sister need to take parenting lessons.  Her punishment will be detrimental to her children's success in school.  She should learn to use positive reinforcement for good behaviour rather than focusing on the bad behaviour.  Her children only get recognition when they miss-behave.  They need to get recognition for their "good behaviour".

Answer 6

wow I dont think there is anything wrong with it but it does seem a little much of pages. My parents when I lied made me look it up in the dictionary and write it over and over lol.

Answer 7

its better than beating them, and they could learn something from it that could help them in school. it may cause them to really hate school tho. wat is going to happen when they get to be like 16 yrs old? are they going to get 16 pgs of work [im assuming they get the # of pgs according to their age]

Answer 8

That will definitely make kids hate homework. They should be excited about learning not hating it already.

Answer 9

Yikes......she's headed for a mess of trouble.  She is most definitely making her kids associate school work with punishment.  You want your children to be excited about learning and that's not going to happen in my opinion if you are using it as a punishment.  chores and loss a free time/favorite toys, etc would be better to use.

Answer 10

Not a good idea. It can do damage and they may turn against school and start failing. You're not overreacting at all.

Answer 11

i defiantly dont think this is a good idea. learning should be something a parent makes fun to do, that way school isnt viewed as torturous. i think a punishment should be to take away something enjoyable, like tv or videogames. that is just my opionion. they are not my children so do as she pleases. thats a better punishment than beating your children

Answer 12

It's not school work if the mother is assigning it.  It is no different than making me write "I will do my homework" 100 times at recess when I was eight.  It didn't make me hate school, just gave me an excuse to not have to spend recess alone...  I see nothing wrong with it.