Willow - I think it really depends on the kiddo. My pcs *might* try it once at some point in their lives but they get the message fast when Momma pulls the plug on their fun stuff. I'd feel fairly comfident in saying, with them, that I wouldn't tolerate it - and I'd have a decent chance of succeeding.
With thank you, the horse left the barn so long ago that it's probably dead and buried now. :wink: He may speak to me this way again someday but at the same time I think training him that it's an inappropriate way to address *any*one has made an impact. With him, it has less to do with respect or right and wrong (unfortunately) than it does with actual training. He still slips, mostly with teachers. I'm really focusing right now on what *he* gets out of self-control, how it pays off for him if he bites that wicked tongue. Respect and civility are meaningless to him as a principal - but by getting him to see how they serve his own wants and needs, I hope he will continue to improve in the mouth department.
I do understand what you're saying, absolutely. There have been times when some board members have laid down such a hard and fast line in the sand and I think there *must* be something wrong with my parenting because no sooner would I lay down a line than thank you would come barreling across it, guns ablazing. How come it works for them??? When you have a kid who could care less about consequences, who doesn't respond to discipline in any remotely "normal" fashion, you do the best you can.
