Empty threats are pointless, stupid and only result in your children losing respect for you and to stop believing you so it doesn't even stop them doing what they're doing!

[heQet]

Well? Am I?

• this is a gang up on my husband and tell him he's wrong thread, btw -

Saying such daft things as "you're going to run 500 on the treadmill" "you don't want any more pocket money from now on" etc etc - things he doesn't MEAN, that he's no intention of actually doing, just saying for god knows what reason - it's stupid and it's pointless.

If you want to tell your child that the consequence for their behaviour will be X - DON'T SAY IT UNLESS YOU MEAN IT!

Again and again and again, he comes out with his no more pocket money / run 500 or 1000 on the treadmill but he doesn't mean it. He's just saying it.

So they do something, he says oh you want to run 500 on the treadmill heh-heh-heh they yell sorry sorry sorry. 2 minutes later and repeat.

Either you carry out a punishment or you don't bloody say it! Just don't give the same warning over and over and over that you have no intention of carrying out - it makes you look a FOOL and the kids quickly learn that you are full of crap, and don't respect what you are saying anyway.

My friend's DS wouldn't do the dishes so she threaten him with the naughty step. He still didn't do the dishes - so she carried out her threat. DS was 16 years old and he sat there for 16 minutes!

Yes you are absolutely right LOL and your DH is truely wrong .

I committ all sorts of parenting faux pas.
Idle threats is not one of them. Never have, never will. Dh same.
I say don't do that. then i threaten. and 99% of the time, I DO DO IT.
Find something that works. then tell your dh to use that rather than idle threats.

I make idle threats all the time. I have never yet left them out for the milkman, sold them to the circus, or sent them to the jungle to be raised by monkeys.

Maybe I need better threats.