Did "Go to your room!" ever work for you?

[mrmontie]

This has been a go to punishment for parents for a while now. It was never terribly effective in my case.

I was a child of the 80's who had an aunt and a grandma who liked to spoil me. I grew up over seas and saw them once a year at best, so they tried to cram all of their doting into that week. Which meant alot of He-men and GI Joes.

I've always been an introvert, so my room was my sanctuary. Never had to share it since my sister didn't come along until I was 8. I wasn't allowed to have a tv, computer or game system in my room until i was in highschool, but such things weren't the norm back then anyway.

But I did have toys and books and a fertile imagination. Being sent to my room was almost a perk. It meant that I didn't have to interact with the outside world and was given free reign to do as I pleased.

Maybe this says something about my family unit at the time. I guess its not supposed to be about your room not being a fun place but more about being sad that you are earning the disapproval of those that matter to you. And being denied participation in what they have going on.

So maybe in hindsight its a bit sad that it didn't work out that way. As far as kids these days go... so many of them have an even more vast physical treasure trove than I did.

"go to your room where you can play WoW until your eyes bleed and text until your fingers fall off...." etc.

Thoughts? personal experiences with popular discipline measures?

[Ruminator]

We never send the kids to their rooms (even if they don't really have a whole lot in there). Noses to walls in a boring part of the house work much better.

[Vulcan Stev]

I don't ground my kids or send them to the rooms. However, grounding the car (It is my name on the title), grounding the game cube (you aren't hooking it up to my electricity), works just fine.

[Xose Lucero]

You are a devious mastermind, Stev.

I never got sent to my room for the reasons outlined above. I got spanked instead. Seems to have worked reasonably well.

[Vulcan Stev]

My kids are at the age where spanking doesn't seem to work quite so much. Losing the wheels hurts a WHOLE lot more than a brief swat on the rear.

[Hank Harwell]

That was me as well

[Sir Golgotha, KEoPS]

Being sent to my room was never really a punishment, even lacking electronic goodies. Fortunately for me, I was clever enough to never let on that it was really bonus. I have lots of siblings, including a twin. Time alone was always to be treasured, even if I had to get in trouble first. My mother (who also had even more siblings) felt that being alone was a terrible thing, so no one else was allowed near whomever was being punished by time in the room.

Looking back, I can remember far more physical punishment, however. Whether this is because of its greater impact or greater frequency, I cannot say. Aggression issues do seem to run in the family...

[Xose Lucero]

Wait. There are two of you?

...wibble...

[Sir Golgotha, KEoPS]

Yes, but he's the good twin. I'm the evil twin. That mitigates it somewhat.