Supper Nanny?

I think I just handed down the world's greatest "punishment" to our dear Lucy.  For the past two days (after returning from a 4 day school canoe trip) she has been nothing but sass.  The amount of disrespect she has shown me in the past 24+ hours has been ridiculous.  I warned her several times, but to no avail.

Finally, on the car ride home from school, I had had enough.  I told her I was going to take away a privilege.  Last time it was Harry Potter...all 7 of them.  She was devastated.  I made her pull each one (she has multiples of some) off her shelf and give them to me.  She was sobbing.  Mind you, I didn't take away reading-her one true love-I simply took away reading Harry Potter.  For 3 days.  Oh, she died!

This afternoon she immediately asked what the punishment was.  I drew a blank.  I couldn't pull the Harry Potter trick again, but what would work this time?  I told her I'd let her know when I'd figured it out...I figure there's no shame is saying I need time to think about it-hits home the fact that I don't have punishments "at the ready" because their behavior rarely needs correcting...right?

All evening she asked what the punishment was.  Still nothing had come to me.

Finally I figured it out.

I told her to sit on the couch and to remain there until I notified her that the punishment was complete.

I gathered her two little sisters, booted up my computer and let the punishment being.

Amelia, Phoebe and I sang along (at the top of our lungs) and danced to one of our favorite songs...the one, the only, Say My Name.

See, Lucy HATES my singing, almost as much as she hates my dancing.  The little girls and I had a blast and poor Lucy kept saying "This is torture!" to which I replied, "You sassing me the past two days has been torture."

Lucy enduring her "punishment"

Surely, you won't find this recommended in any parenting books.  So, I'm unorthodox.  I doubt she'll ever forget the time her nanny punished her with singing and dancing.