Effective discipline for 6 y.o twin boys!

[nancy10]

If I tell them off for answering back/being naughty they look at each other and snigger. If I'm telling them off and say for eg 'Go to your room!' They'll say something along the lines of 'Oh I love going to my room.' Whatever I say or do seems to have no effect on them whatsoever. I'm really losing my temper and it's getting to the point where after school is just a misery for me and them. I'm snappy before I've even picked them up. They aren't always badly behaved but when they are I don't feel I'm handling it properly. After school seems to definately be the problem time and although I'm not passing the blame they do seem to be friendly with children who have similar behaviour. They go to a tiny village school so it's impossible to seperate them. I've smacked them, taken things away, sent them to their room etc I basically feel like a nagging old cow and I'm sick of hearing my own voice!

this sounds awful but you need to take back power try using them against each other divide and conquer pay one a lot of positive attension so the other is soooooo good due to the fact he wants attention too, do it v subtle but so one day one feels so special then do it to the other they will not know whats going on they are use to you treating them them with the same attention probably its standard psycological seperating, a bit of sibling rivalry will improve this situation as they are living like pack animals at the moment you just need to remind them that you are pack leader

Nancy I will watch with interest. I'm having a nightmare with my 5 year old twin boys.

They made my cry yesterday. The only good thing is they are seperated at school and they are angels

Bedtime has been silly for the last few days. Mucking around for hours so tonight I put one in older DD's room and the other alone in the bunkbed (DD went to bed later) and it worked brilliantly.

Divide and conquer

Thanks for your replies. Discussed with dh last night and have agreed that our biggest downfall is letting things get too far and not warning them once and then carrying out what we've threatened. So we started last night! They were ok during the evening but at bedtime they got in and I came downstairs, we could here them getting out of bed and laughing, normally I would go upstairs 4-5 times and tell them off. But last night I went up and said if they didn't get into bed and go to sleep I would turn the landing light off. I walked back down and before I got to the bottom they were both out so I flicked off the light. They were screaming with fear and because they were out of their beds we heard them scuttle across the floor and jump in I went upstairs to check they were ok (about 5mins) I turned their night light on and said if I hear anything I'd turn that off and would not be turning it back on. They went to sleep straight away. This morning the younger twin would not get dressed. I really praised the older twin and let him open his advent calendar, told younger twin if he wasn't dressed I would open his advent calendar and dog would eat the chocolate. He was still mucking about so he didn't have it, much to his disgust. I felt mean but I'm hoping it will nip it in the bud quicker and we can go back to normal. Also smug twin told the teacher in the line this morning what had happened and she made a comment about it being too bad and he really needs to hurry up and get dressed if he wants to open his calendar. See what happens tonight!

I'm fortunate my dh doesn't work away and he helps. The hardest part is keeping it up and keeping the discipline the same. I'm trying to think ahead for tonight.
And I'm going to give them some jobs to do, so the little gits cherubs are knackered tonight!