10 minutes off of playtime - a reasonable punishment?

[hobbgoblin]

DS fell off his chair. Almost certainly on purpose, and deserving of punishment imo. I am rather hoping that this year's teacher is going to keep him in check better at school than the last did.

It's a class of nearly all boys (about 4 girls in there in total I believe), Year 5 and many of them are 'lively' types.

What I don't agree with, personally, is punishments that reduce outdoor playtime. I think that behaviour is better if boys in particular can let off a bit of steam and that there are more effective, more logical punishments than this.

What do you think?

I think reducing playtime is fair if they have been playing while they should be working - the punishment fits the crime. But otherwise I agree it just tends to worsen the problem for fidgety boys.

OTOH what other punishments does the teacher have access to, which would actually have an effect on his behaviour? If you think there is something else which would be more effective, maybe mention it to her so she knows the best way to get the result you both want.

I understand your view about letting off steam hobb

As MumInScotland - is there anything else you can thing of?

I think the difficulty is that teachers have very few remrimands and deterrants anymore that impact on behaviour.

Do they have a "golden" time in class - e.g. choice activities... losing golden time and having to work instead of choice may have some effect?

Yes, I can see the punishment fits the crime in that he is 'playing' when supposed to be working and thus his offical playtime is reduced. That's fine but I worry of course that the punishment is only exacerbating the problem.

I think sending out of the class is another option but not great so I can see that the Teacher has a limited range of options and shouldn't have to be wasting her and everybody else's time weighing them up to be honest.

Hold on, I'll ask DS what he thinks would be a suitable punishment...he has been moaning about it while sitting drawing next to me...

He says yellow card.

Well, a yellow card is ok, but what does he think should happen if/when he gets another on?

Yes I am still attempting to draw him on this..!

Oh. :(

He says "write: 'I'm not very bright' 100 times"

Sending out of class is not ideal as then he misses learning time.

I am not convinced by line personally.

Not sure on missing break. Can see how, for some children, it could be counter productive to reduce their 2letting off steam" time. How long is break? 15 minutes? So, he still gets some break?

Do they have golden time?

I wouldn't reduce playtime by ten minutes unless there had been a number of incidents

my boys' school would take away some of lunch time play, I think, which is longer and therefore reduces the negative impact on behaviour/physical energy level

I am not sure what my view is, I will think about it

Hmm, in the longer term I think maybe working to counter the "I'm not very bright" feeling may have more of an impact on his behaviour than any punishment would. Is he messing around in class because he has "switched off" from trying to learn, or because bad attention from the teacher is better than none? Could you get the teacher to give him some responsibility, to help him feel positive about his contribution to the class instead of clowning around? I really think that statement is the explanation of his behaviour, though how you start to fix it is much more tricky of course.

If he got lines (if they even do that any more?) I think they should be "I'm bright and capable of better than this!" to reinforce a positive view of his ability rather than to make him feel bad about himself.

I'm sure in the old days a stern telling off was enough!