Big Lessons Are Best Learned on Small Behaviors.
These days, the typical way of enforcing a curfew is to warn children about all the privileges they will lose if curfew is not obeyed. Since staying out late is very desirable for kids, then the penalties have to be significant as well. If they don’t work, then even bigger ones will be necessary in the future. It usually doesn’t take very long before the child is "grounded" for long periods of time, parent/child relationships are adversarial, and the home environment is a tinderbox just waiting to explode.
In real discipline, this punitive and confrontational approach is avoided by ensuring that the important lessons about curfew are taught on small behaviors. Every time you insist your youngsters come when you call, you are setting the stage for curfew. Every time you insist they pick up their toys, they learn to follow parental directions. Every time you counter their defiance by insisting they do what they’re told to do, they learn that you mean what you say.
So, don’t buy into the nonsense that you should overlook the small stuff. If you insist the small stuff is done properly, then your children will know what’s expected when it comes to the big behaviors.
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