I was about ten, and my brother (about a year and a half younger than me) and one of my cousins (a year younger than him) would team up to get me trouble. Most of the time I was innocent – well, that’s what I’m sticking with.
I remember that I got in trouble one time and was grounded to my room for a certain time – it was for two or three hours. I watched my alarm clock tick away the minutes – I knew exactly when my time was up. About 30 minutes before I was released from my jail cell, my mom came and said that she, my brother, and my cousin were leaving to go somewhere. She asked if I wanted to go with them. I adamantly stated that I couldn’t go because my time was not up yet. My mom had to work at convincing me that it was okay for me to end my punishment early and go with them.
I didn’t realize it then, but I am a high ‘C’ on the DISC profile. My “C” must have been really high then, because I was so stuck on the rules that I wouldn’t even break them for myself – even with permission from the warden! I wasn’t always like this. There were plenty of other times that I would try to pass the buck and blame others.
Personal accountability is vital for us to truly be successful in life. It is far too common for people to avoid it and pass the buck to someone else.
I remember getting grounded for a week when I road by bike way outside of the boundaries my parents had set for me. I knew I had let them down, and the week of punishment was nothing compared to the feeling I had that I didn’t live up to their expectation for me. Since then personal accountability has been a big deal for me.
One thing that I’m learning is that some punishments work differently with different kids. A couple weeks ago, I took a lot of my son’s toys and stuff out of his room because he was being extraordinarily selfish and ungrateful. It turned out to be a great wake-up moment for him. He’s been a lot more thankful for things since then.
We emptied my sons room except for his bed several years ago. It did the trick for a while.