Consequences of Early Bedtime for Punishment

Much of what parenting deals with is correcting a child's rebellious behavior, and the most effective punishments help the child recognize and reflect on what he did wrong. Some parents threaten to send their young children to bed early, but this form of discipline many not have the desired effects that they would like to get across.

  1. Separation Anxiety

    • According to Families.com, pediatrician T. Berry Brazellon advises against sending a child to her bed early because sleep is often a distressing time any way. Some children have separation anxiety associated with sleep because they are separated from both their parents and the rest of the world. This is why children are often afraid of the dark and are scared to sleep -- because of nightmares. Bedtime should be a pleasant time to help ease the child who is experiencing this type of nighttime stress. Sending children to their rooms for an early bedtime feeds the negative association with going to sleep.

    Behavior

    • The punishment also goes by the assumption that the child does not like his room. For example, if a 9-year-old boy is sent to his room before bedtime, what proof do you have that he is going to actually think about what he has done? Does he not have a nice room? Does he have any privileges in there, such as video games, music players or a television? These distractions could deter from the lesson that he is supposed to be learning, which is to curb rebellious behavior. Instead, the child may feel neglected and start to act out more, as a result of the punishment.

    Effectiveness

    • While the misbehavior that led to the early bedtime will cease and desist once the child goes to her room, it may lose its effectiveness over time. Experts, such as Dr. Laura Markham, suggest that timeouts, early bedtimes and other consequence-based punishments fail to get to the heart of the matter or reason the child is misbehaving. The children do not realize what they are doing wrong because the consequence does not properly explain it to them. It is also important to correct, based on appropriateness of the child's age. For example, it is unrealistic to think that toddlers and preschoolers will understand the meaning of an early bedtime.

    Consistency

    • Sending children to bed early can seem like a proper deterrent, but much of the problem lies on its inconsistency. The best way to curb bad behavior is to use logical or natural punishments because this is how the children will learn. In order for a children to learn through an early bedtime, then she would have to be performing the misbehavior at the same time repeatedly and, thus, the folowing consequences carried out consistently.

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