Discipline Consistency

I guess it should come as no surprise that sometimes domestic discipline comes more easily to me than other times. The other day when I thought Lion was going back to town to pick up my medicine after I told him not to, I was ready to punish him. This morning he forgot something when he made breakfast and I was willing to overlook it. It wasn’t a big deal. But it has to be.

In order for domestic discipline to work I need to be consistent. Not that those two circumstances require the same punishment, but they do require punishment. Forgetting a serving tool should not be the same as forgetting something I specifically asked for. Directly disobeying should have an even bigger punishment. If we assume that the punishment is spanking then he may get five somewhat hard whacks for the breakfast mishap. Forgetting the medicine got poor Lion somewhere in the vicinity of ten very hard swats. If he had gone back for the medicine after I told him not to, he may not be able to sit right now. The punishment should fit the crime.

However, I should explore different avenues of punishment. I’m not sure my pet will ever get used to very hard swats, but if he knows it’s “just” a spanking coming then he might not try so hard to remember things. I have to throw in a few extended waits and rescind a few play days to keep things interesting. On the other hand, I have to be careful not to include things that should not be seen as punishment. For example, I don’t want him to view diapers or girly toenails as punishment. They are just a way for me to exercise my control. Something to amuse me.

So not only do I have to be consistent, I have to be creative. I can do that. But I don’t think Lion will like it. Poor boy.

1 Comment

  1. Author

    This is the exact issue we initially ran into. My wife started to give me warning after warning. We talked and I told her that without consistency, punishment no longer is a good deterrent to bad behavior. Now it is immediate punishment. We have no kids so we can do it. No mor warning and no mercy.

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