I spank. But when I can't reach them, I give 'em "The Momma Look..."
When I worked with kindergartners, of course you can't spank the kids, but The Momma Look was universal. Chile, it crossed all language barriers and ethnicities. So even for the little kid that couldn't "speaka englise" and was bouncing around like a maniac, that look made 'em relax, real quick.
On a more serious note, I know that a "look" doesn't work with every child, so we had a "Stop Light". Everyone started out the day with their names on the green light. After each significant warning to stop
whatever, the child had to move their names to yellow, and then to red. If you got 4 green lights (good behaviour 4 out of 5 days), you got to participate in a fun activity at the end of the week (we called it "Fun Friday").
Perhaps you could incorporate a version of this in your church activity, and instead of Fun Friday, those with minimal warnings can get something out of the "Treat Box". The Treat Box could be filled with little dollar store items, candy, etc, -- all of this assuming that you work with very young children at the church.
[This message has been edited by tickledpink (edited April 19, 2001).]
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