As a parent, I've made my share of mistakes.  My most common mistake is the "over threaten."  And it happens way too often.  I have one particular example in mind.

My middle child (10 year old girl) had a friend over.  Youngest child (6 year old boy) was bothering her and said friend.  Things escalated and she crossed a line that shouldn't be crossed.  The real problem started when she refused to apologize.  (I really need to figure out how she can be so stubborn.  Where could that possibly come from?)  Whatever I was trying was not working.  I finally said that if she didn't apologize, she was going to her room for the rest of the day.  (I think it was around 3pm.)  She still wouldn't apologize.

I was stuck.  Not only was a I sending a kid to her room for 5 hours but it was the exact wrong punishment.  This is the kid that heads upstairs to her bedroom while the rest of the family is on the main level of the house.  This is the kid that I need to occasionally push to be a little more social.  This is the kid that read the entire Harry Potter series in four months.

Not only that, but after she spent an hour or so up in her room, I had a talk with her.  She was having some friend/confidence issues and that was the real reason for the lashing out at her brother.

I was faced with a dilemma.  Do I stick to my original punishment and leave her in her room for the rest of the night, or do I admit that it was too harsh of a punishment and let her out early?

I ended up letting her out of her room for dinner and allowed her to stay out for the remainder of  the evening.  What she really needed was some time with her family.  I know the best solution would be to not over threaten in the first place.  I also know it is good to stick with punishments that have been levied.  I just know once I've had a chance to really think things through I often come up with a much better solution.  I don't think it makes sense to double down on my own mistake.

What do the fathers (and mother) have to say?