A Discipline Experiment

My friend and I both have daughters that are seven years old. They both have developed a sass mouth. A little early we thought. We thought it would happen in a few years, not second grade. I don't ever remember having one because when I was growing up with a navy dad, it was simply not done. If we would have talked back, we would have been picking up our faces off the floor. When I was a tween, my father left the family so I was too scared of upsetting my mother. I knew she was going through enough. My husband and I do not hit our kids. So we are dealing with new territory - sooner than we thought. My friend and I are conducting an experiment and plan to compare notes later. She is making her daughter go to bed five minutes early for every time she talk disrespectful - ahead of her little sister. We had been placing our daughter on the naughty stool (from Super Nanny), every time she talked back, no warnings. However, it was getting us no where. She would either bite her nails and bid her time or wail making everyone miserable and making tempers hot. So I took a tip from another mom whose children misbehaved in church - make them write 10 times (or more depending on the offense) they will not... fill in the blank. So far, we are seeing results. The first time, Saturday, I had her write 10 times - I will not talk back. I feel this does two things, she can't wail because she is concentrating on her writing and it puts in her mind what she has done wrong -over and over. It also takes her away from us because we send her to her room to write. Sunday, she began to misbehave in another arena. I gave her one warning, "You will write 15 times if you do not stop bothering your sister." She stopped and the rest of the day was fine. We decided if we are out, then she will do it then or when we get home, depending on the situation. I always have pencil and paper. I have not heard from my friend if her experiment is working. I should know soon.