Journal #5

I think that the punishments discussed in the video we watched are appropriate twenty-first century punishments for unruly children. Yet, I think that not all of the punishments will really work effectively. I think it would also be easy for the child to find a way to work around the punishment, and then they would not really learn their lesson at all. For example, the expert in the video suggested having the children give the parent the password to their Facebook account, or briefly changing the password so the child may not log onto the social network. I think that this is a good idea in theory, but may not actually work. The child for example may refuse to give up their password to Facebook or other social media sites. The parent then would not be able to effectively use Facebook as a punishment since they could not access the account. Also, the child may give over their password to the parent, but then can just start a whole new Facebook account that is a secret from the parent. I think the most effective way to punish a child by taking away Facebook is to just take away their computer and smartphone privileges. The child will learn that using the computer is a luxury not a right. Maybe taking away computer will even make the child go and play outside or something more active. If they have homework that requires research I would stay by my stance on not using the computer. I would send the kids to the library and research the old fashioned way. Many parents might worry about their kids not having their phones, which often have Internet as well. The parents could take away the smartphone and buy a cheap phone to put their kid's sim cards in. This would allow the parent to still reach the child, but the kid could only really call on the phone and not have all of the fancy options of today's smart phones.