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View Full Version : Helping dh w/ discipline....


snlmama
03-28-2005, 10:26 AM
Long story short, dh has suddenly and w/o explanation decided that the best way to "discipline" our kids - 2 1/2 yo and 5 1/2 yo - is spanking and yelling. :td
I'm not sure where it's all coming from but suspect 2 issues triggering it - first, his sister, who he talks to once in a blue moon, but always gets "advice" from her which is usually bad and he will follow it for a few weeks, argue w/ me until we're both blue in the face, then forget about it or decide it's not working or won't work (when my oldest was 6 months old she tried to convince him that ds "needed" to be in daycare and if I wasn't working he still needed to find a way to pay for it, just for example of her looniness). I'm actually hoping it's that and he'll just quit in another week or so. :think The other is a trip we just took w/ some college friends who are *very* punitive, ala Ezzo and that lady someone here talked about that advocates putting tabasco on kids tongues. :eek :rolleyes Odd thing there is, the whole trip he was griping and freaking about how "out of control" the parents were and all the spanking, yelling and threats drove him nuts, but maybe it affected him subconsciously b/c now, 2 weeks later, *he's* doing it. :banghead

A little background - we've always tended toward more positive discipline techniques - I'm a big fan of How to talk so kids will listen, and Raising Your Spirited Child and books like that. I tend to be the stricter parent in general, while dh tends toward permissiveness. He has spanked a couple of times in the past but found it to be ineffective. It was usually when he'd let things go to far and didn't know what else to do.

Now, suddenly he's just walking around yelling, imposing rules he never even mentioned as concerning him before and spanking them 5-6 times a day. :eek :td :mad :doh

I keep asking him what happened and he just tells me that "the kids are out of control and I haven't been doing anything b/c *you* won't *let* me spank them and I just got tired of it." :banghead

I know I've read on here before that parents can make it work w/ one spanking and one not, but I don't think that is going to work here. A BIG problem is that my 5 year olds behavior gets *worse* when he is being spanked and yelled at, not better, so now he really is out of control and I don't know how to get him back to normal if dh is going to continue spanking. :O

Yesterday dh spanked my 2 year old for wiggling while he was combing his hair, (with the comb :mad I lost it on that one), taking a drink out of the kitchen (which is against *my* rules, but dh has never bothered to enforce it himself before), throwing a plastic easter egg and yelling. He spanked the 5 year old for yelling, for crying, for not stopping playing his video game (um, you are the adult, all you have to do is turn it off if he doesn't stop), dropping some food on the floor (debatable if this was an accident or not) and a couple of other times I'm not really sure *what* happened. :mad :banghead

Anyone whose btdt have any advice on how to handle this. I've given dh all the books to read, explained and showed him the 5 steps. He's seen me using GBD for several years now. I just can't figure out what it is that he isn't getting.

ArmsOfLove
03-28-2005, 10:36 AM
Is your dh suddenly under an incredible amount of stress?

I would tell him that his behavior isn't discipline--it's abusive. He's spanking for wiggling and expressing emotions :( And I would suggest the book "When Anger Hurts Your Kids" (ETA: I'm not trying to say that your dh is an abuser--rereading that it sounded bad :( What I'm trying to say is that even for spanking this is over the top and it appears something else has to be going on and it's getting taken out on the kids. Sometimes when people are trying to work hard to control one area of their lives it's because another area they can't control is out of control :( )

Something else is going on here and he's taking it out on the kids. If you can help him with whatever is really wrong, great, if not perhaps you can offer to do the discipline until he gets it under control.

schoolofmom
03-28-2005, 10:54 AM
He sounds just like my dad when he was about to get laid off. (Obviously, not saying that's exactly what's happening, just that the huge stress thing sounds right to me.) All of a sudden I would get in trouble for letting the dog inside--even though the dog was an inside dog! It was as if he had no control over one area of his life, so he had to institute absolute control over another.

crunchymum
03-28-2005, 11:54 AM
i don't have advice right now, but wanted to give you :hugs

:( i don't know what i would do.... :cry

snlmama
03-28-2005, 12:59 PM
Thank you, I think. I agree with what you are saying, Crystal, but I have no idea what is going on with him. He *acts* really stressed out. He has been crabby w/ me also, but he won't tell me that *anything* is wrong except that "the kids are out of control," which is why I was suspecting some more of his sister's "advice" :blush. I do consider how he is acting abusive and have told him so.

It's totally confusing, b/c, like I said, a few weeks ago he'd *laugh* when I complained about some of the stuff and thought it was all stuff it was OK for the kids to do (like taking drinks in the TV room, etc. It's like he's turned into a totally different person.

He won't tell me that anything is bothering him, though. All I can think of is that his Dad is about to come visit and that always causes some stressors in our relationship, but I haven't been discussing it w/ him so far beyond what dates he will be here. He says nothing is wrong at work except that he's bored w/ his job b/c it's too easy. :shrug He was under a lot of stress a few months ago w/ some volunteers things he was doing, but those are over now. Hmmmm, maybe I need to find him a new project? Anyway, thanks for agreeing w/ me. I needed someone to tell me I am not overreacting here. Any thoughts on how I can get him to tell me what is wrong? He's usually pretty open about stuff so I'm not used to having to drag it out of him. I suggested last night to him that if he was feeling this angry w/ all of us he needed to go to counseling b/c nothing has changed w/ the rest of us lately. :think He said he'd think about it, but probably won't go and I"m actually afraid of if he goes b/c when I had ppd we tried counseling paid for thru his work and they were terrible.

ArmsOfLove
03-28-2005, 01:02 PM
:hug

he might not even know what is wrong. It could be his dad coming--do they have a good relationship? was his dad a harsh parent?

snlmama
03-28-2005, 01:09 PM
His dad was much absent when they were young, then critical and mean and VERY punitive (which is why *normally* dh tends toward the permissive side of things and this is freaking me out so much) when they were older and he was around. Still critical and hateful and demanding. It's been harder the past few years since dh's mom died - she was kind of a buffer between the kids and their dad, I think.
We see him about once a year and he'll only be here for 4 days, 2 of which dh will be working and one of which fil plans to be visiting friends in a nearby town. We usually have issues btw. dh and I during his visit b/c I am very firm about setting boundaries w/ fil and dh is not. It's about 3 weeks away, but maybe that is it. I'll see if there is something his dad is "demanding" that is stressing him out. Good point. If that's it I can't take this for 3 more weeks. The kids and I will have to leave town! :blush

ArmsOfLove
03-28-2005, 02:23 PM
:hug If it is that, maybe it will help to just bring it to the forefront and discuss it. Also, maybe you can come to some solutions together for how to deal with dh's concerns/fears.

snlmama
04-02-2005, 07:22 PM
Just wanted to update on this - keep meaning to and have to go before I find the post. :O I need about 50 hours in a day right now. :O
Anyway, I never really figured out *what* was going on, but he just stopped on it. We talked a little about his dad coming and I told him that I was really concerned about how he was acting w/ the kids and if he was feeling frustrated he needed to tell me and let me take over. He hasn't really asked for my help but he has handled them much better. Maybe just knowing that it was OK to be frustrated and need me to help him fixed it? Or maybe the talk about his dad helped even though he didn't really admit to being stressed. :shrug Anyway, thanks for your support and validating my thoughts that things were over the top. :heart

ArmsOfLove
04-02-2005, 07:33 PM
I'm so glad things are better :tu

crunchymum
04-04-2005, 07:51 AM
oh, i'm so glad... :)

i think you might be on to something... it seems like dh can relax about stuuf if i let him know it's ok to feel frustrated, etc.... :hug