Jonathan and I have been trying to think of effective punishments to deal with boy offenses. So many typical methods don’t seem to be “hard” enough for the boys in preventing them from doing what it is that they want to do. They seem to think the momentary pleasure outweighs the consequences. After prayer and seeking wisdom, here a few ideas we have implemented:
If the boys complain about food, they are given another helping of the item they don’t like. They are allowed to have some dislikes, but they can’t be nasty and complain about it. They have to nicely say they don’t like it or just not say anything and still try a small portion of the dish.
If a boy is mean to another boy, they are required to serve that other boy for the rest of the day (meaning give first choice of toy, activity, and helping the other boy with stuff like meals and chores).
If a boy deliberately makes a mess, he is required to clean up that mess. If the mess is more offensive in nature (e.g. bodily fluids), the boy is given more chores to do on top of cleaning up the mess.
These are just a few of recent situations we have dealt with…
Grace In The Moment 
Good ideas…maybe I will try some of them.
I am finally reading your blog, haven’t gotten to read it in a while.
How are you all doing?
We are fine
Diana
Diana, I was going to call you soon to get some ideas from you. 🙂 Parenting requires a lot of creativity, which is something that I need to grow in.