Parenting Tip of the Day II

Image by Kuzeytac via Flickr

Mark Kleiman recently explored the concept of crime reduction in a book entitled "When Brute Force Fails."

I haven't read the book yet, but as best as I can tell it sounds pretty intriguing. I say this because the guys over at The Economist's blog Democracy in America recently took the book's advice and implemented one of Mr. Kleiman's tactics (on reducing gang violence) on their kids.

Parents take note:

In my case, my kids were waking up early on school-day mornings and sneaking downstairs to watch TV. Under Mr Kleiman's influence, I tried a new tactic: I announced that if both were found watching TV, only my daughter, the oldest, would be punished, because she was responsible. If only my son broke the rule, he would be the only one punished. Both kids are far more afraid of being punished disproportionately than of being punished equally. The school-day morning TV-watching has stopped.

Disproportionate punishment - coming soon to the next generation of Ivey children.

(Also see Parenting Tip of The Day I)