Ways to teach our kids a lesson

This evening when I came back from work, I saw that our son's play gym is broken. Turns out her elder sister had climbed on it, and the thing broke in half under her weight. My wife scolded Imelda (our daughter's name), and we threatened her by telling her 'mama and abah tak nak kawan dengan melda dah'.

Imelda acted as if she had no remorse at what she'd done, and keep on acting like nothing is going on. She came to me and acting on girly, and I pretend not seeing her, doing the 'tak nak kawan dengan imelda' bit. All my wife and I wanted is for Imelda to apologize to her brother for breaking his play gym. We wanted her to feel responsible for what she did.

But despite us pretending to ignore her, she also played her drama on us, being cute and all. While my wife and I were having dinner, Imelda rocked my wife's chair, trying to be funny. This made my wife angry and Imelda got a taste of her own medicine (cubit and some rotan). I heard her crying in the kitchen while my S.O scolded her for breaking the play gym, and demanded she apologize.

At that moment, it got me thinking, to what extend should we teach our children they have done something wrong. Listening to her crying made me feel guilty. Am I being too mean? After all, we weren't home all day, and night time is the only time our kids can spend time with us. And now, our daughter is is being yelled by her parents after not seeing them for a whole day.

I suppose we can forgive her for what she did, after all it may be just an accident, and being only 4 years old. We can always buy a new play-gym, but the valuable family time tonight is irreplaceable. Tonight, tomorrow night or the night after are not the same. So its important to make every night count.

On my way home today, I bought a box of candy for Imelda. I kept it in the drawer when I found out what happened. Maybe I'll give it to her right after I post this. I'll talk to her nicely, and make her understand what she did in a good way. There are other ways to teach our kids a lesson..