How to Punish an 8-Year-Old

Disciplining your 8-year-old child is part of his development and preparation for the real world. As an adult, he'll be punished for various forms of bad behavior. Driving too fast can result in a speeding ticket, not working efficiently can get you fired and criminal behavior can land you in jail. Parents should try to develop a healthy balance between rewarding for positive behavior and punishing kids for negative behavior.

Instructions

    • 1

      Threaten your child and then follow up on your threat. Avoid making threats that you cannot stick to because this causes you to lose credibility, and your child won't take your threats seriously in the future. Say things like, "If you don't clean your room, I will take away your favorite toy." This is a threat you can realistically execute. Avoid saying things like, "If you don't clean your room, you'll never watch television again." These types of threats are not realistic.

    • 2

      Take away your child's privileges as punishment for bad behavior. Determine which toys your child likes to play with and what his favorite activities are and deprive him of these as punishment. Take away his favorite video game or tell him he cannot play outdoors for the day, whatever course of action will have the most impact on your particular child.

    • 3

      Place your child in an eight-minute time-out. Have her sit on a chair in a quiet area of the house and tell her to remain there quietly and calm down. An 8-year-old may want to get up out of the chair and act up. If she does, instruct her to return to the chair. If she keeps getting up, send her to her room and take away any toys she likes to play with.

    • 4

      Ignore your child when he acts up, as a form of punishment. By not paying attention to your child's bad behavior, his tantrum may subside. Children often misbehave to get attention. When they don't get the attention they crave, the misbehavior may stop.

    • 5

      Use natural and logical consequences to discipline your child. If she throws a toy at you, take it away and don't allow her to play with it anymore. If she doesn't clean up after playing with video games, take the games away for the rest of the day.

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