What kind of punishment should I give my 7yo for taking a knife to my new computer screen?

Question

So my 7 year old decided to take a play knife (that actually has some cutting ability) to my computer screen. Of course, my laptop is about a month old and I need it for school. He's pretty much ruined the screen. I was in the next room when he did it, feeding my babies. I don't want any sarcastic comments, just real solutions. I would like for him to understand what he did was serious, but I don't want to be too overly harsh. Thanks

Answer 1

Take a couple of his toys and take that same knife to it. Then take a good hand to his bottom. Jealous little brat.

Answer 2

a 7 yr. old should have known better. I would take away some priveleges. I would have him do chores that would pay back for the damage done. You have to make him realize that this is serious. If a child is using knives to cut up computer screens, who knows what else he may start using them on, if you aren't strict enough with him. You cannot let this go. He has to know the seriousness of this. First I would have him tell you why he thought this was necessary, and then I would tell him what the necessary discipline should be.Just a thought, could he be jealous of your new babies? That however is no excuse for his behavior. With babies in the house, I would be even more concerned about your older son having a knife in his hand.

Answer 3

I would probably take away his privileges. Take away his knife and his other favourite toys (or all of them) for a certain period of time. Or send him to bed earlier for a while, don't let him watch TV etc, and explain to him why you're doing it.



Most 7 year olds would know not to do that. Is he allowed to use your laptop or even another computer. I know at that age, my son wouldn't have done that as he's always loved to go on the computer since he was about 3. Therefore, he would never destroy something that he enjoyed spending time on.



Try to get him interested in using your laptop. If he can take an interest in it, and become proficient in using it, then he's not so likely to want to damage it.

Answer 4

I think the first poster has a good idea about giving him chores to do to earn money. That may help him begin to learn the value of a dollar! Also, I would throw in a grounding...maybe no cartoons for a certain length of time, or no friends over, bedtime maybe an hour earlier. That might help it sink in that what he did was wrong. He's young, but these things would not be too harsh AT ALL. After all, laptops aren't cheap, and he's old enough to know that what he was doing wasn't going to go over so well with Mommy!



On a side note, if I'd done something like that when I was young I would have gotten a good old fashioned butt whipping. Now, people yell "Child Abuse!!" if you spank your children. Think of how well-mannered kids were 30 years ago, when spanking was the norm, compared to today's disrespectful, destructive kids. I am not ashamed to say that I spank my daughters butt when she does something to warrant it. I do NOT advocate hitting kids, slapping their faces, pulling their hair, and all of those other nasty things. But, I DO advocate blistering butts, if called for. My daughter will NOT grow up to be a disrespectful PUNK, if I can help it. Judge way. I don't give a flip. You people will be the ones whining "Oh I wish I'd corrected him/her more when he/she was young", as you sit waiting in the police station.

Answer 5

I agree with the first answerer about giving him chores to earn money to pay for the damage. If he gets an allowance then he should also lose that in order to pay for it.



And also figure out why he did this... this sounds like something a 2 year old might do, but by age 7 it's not normal, because she should definitely know better by now. I'm inclined to think there may be an underlying problem here.

Answer 6

You say you don't want to be to harsh, but this is serious and a harsh punishment is exactly what this young man needs. Start off with a thorough bare bottomed spanking, over your lap with your open hand, at least 20 good solid swats that leave his little bottom red and him shedding real tears. Then he needs to be grounded over the weekend. No TV, no toys, no games. Finally he needs to write "I am sorry for what I did to mommy's computer" about 50 times. He can spend the rest of his time reading and helping you out with little chores around the house.



Yes this is a stern punishment, but your son needs to understand what he did was very serious, it was not funny or cute in any way. If you don't make an impression he will vandalize something else the next time he gets bored or jealous.

Answer 7

Wow...and I thought my daughter tearing pages from books was bad. To be honest, I would not know how to handle it. I guess my first instinct would be a damn good spanking. But on the other hand, I would wonder why a 7 year old would do that, and if there was not an underlying problem of some sort.



Whatever path you choose, good luck!

Answer 8

While everyone is discussing consequences, and there should be some, you need to take a hard look at the root cause of this outburst. Is he normally violent, prone to anger? Help him work through those issues. If he's being ignored (in his mind is what counts), then you need to find a way to pay more attention to him to fill his tank. Any time new little ones come into the home, the older can feel some loss and we need to may attention to that.



PS - I'd probably invoke several of the consequences outlined before. If you didn't have a household rule about playing with knives, add one. One issue here, is consequences must come swift and we've now lost the timing part.

Answer 9

If he did it out of anger, jealousy or feeling entitled to be destructive, then he needs a spanking. Before that, there should be a discussion about what he was feeling, how hard you work to buy things for the family, etc. After the spanking, reassure him that he's still loved. ....and let him know what his restrictions are.

Answer 10

at 7 he should have known better, maybe its time to show a little harshness before its too late.take his favorite toys/things from him, he disrespected yo and your possessions so you need to make him know what its like when you cant have your things because of someone else's actions. ground him from them for a set length of time.if you worry about being "too harsh" all youll end up with is a child who has no respect for you or anyone else in the long run.



ADD: and by all means take away the knife and anything else he has like it, he is obviously not mature enough to handle them, and most 7 year olds arent.

Answer 11

He should get a serious spanking. But you also need to spend some time figuring out where this behavior is coming from--its pretty serious. This is one where I think professional assistance is in order

Answer 12

Give him chores to do to earn money to buy you a new screen. You can decide on the chores and how much he will earn for them and how long he'll have to do the chores. At 7 he is big enough to do alot of different things.

Answer 13

mom whats to know why he did it? was he jealous of your feeding the babies? or was he being inquisitive?



if jealous - harsher punishment - our emotions need to be under control even at seven, screaming and crying are one thing, destruction is another.



inquisitive - trying to figure out how it worked? - lesser punishment - but still punish enough that the child will not touch the laptop again without permission,



learning about the world around us is entirely different than getting back a mommy for not paying attention to us.



here are her suggestions



inquisitive - a spanking, with two weeks not electronics (since he destroyed your electronic), a little lecture about the cost of such things and now it needs to be replaced



jealousy - a harsher spanking, with two weeks of caring for the babies with you at his side, make him put the stinky diapers in the pail, get you the wipes, get the blankets folded, such as that, while he is choring for you tell him about how much time was invested into his babyhood and its only fair that you also give that time to the babies, and that you love them both equally.

Answer 14

Well he prolly did it because he was jealous about the computer getting so much attention and he didn't!

Take away his favorite toy for a while seems like a good punishment and learns him that it sucks when someone damages or takes away something you need/love.

Answer 15

a good old fashion spanking!

Think about it, what if he took a play knife to the baby.



This calls for a good spanking!

Answer 16

explain to him that you still love him , but you don't love his behavior and ask him why he did that

and explain to him how important the laptop was to you and after you have spoken to him , send him to his room to think about what his done

and when he comes out ask him for an apology and a hug so that he can see that you do still love him

and maybe take his knife away it might be dangerous if it can cut

Answer 17

well first off sit him down and show him what he has done and explain that the computer is off limits ..i have three kids and i usually keep them away but they have their own computer but still insist touching mine. i usually give them a time out and for a week take something off them video games tv computer it works great..i sometimes threaten them with cleaning which they hate to do but they have cleaned a few times ...

Answer 18

most seven year olds....(like my sister) are pretty much able to know that stuff like that is a no-no. if ur's doesnt then that pretty much means you need to work on teaching them about how to respect other peoples properties.... u probly should reprimand ur child, but sit with him and explain that what he did was a no-no. its not ur childs fault that you failed to teach him BEFORE he did somthing like this... its only ur fault that he didnt know before the event occured...

Answer 19

Be a parent. Spank him for goodness sakes.

Answer 20

Give him one good spanking!

Answer 21

Blister his @$$