Neighbors Punishing With "Finger Pincher," What Could Ds Be Talking About?

[Shelsi]

*UPDATED post #8 with more info, I think it's fine and no biggie after all*

My 4.5 yr old sometimes plays over at the neighbors house. They have a 5 yr old and a 7 yr old. They all play really well together.

So anyways just now my ds said something about the little boy next door (the 5 yr old) getting in trouble so his mom and dad used the finger pincher thing and now he won't do it again. What could this be? What could they be doing over there? I couldn't really get any more details out of ds except that he said a few times that it doesn't hurt and no it's never been used on him because when he gets to be too much they just send him home (thank goodness).

[BedHead]

My kids went to a babysitter once (briefly!!) who actually pinched them - maybe that's it.

[Shelsi]

Ds said it was like pliers but wasn't? So it must be a "device" of some sort...

[La Rune]

Are they putting clothespins on the kids' fingers?

[plunky]

Wow.

[Just1More]

I think that would really bother me. Sounds a little, uhm...well, weird.

I think I'd have to talk to the parents about that. Just a light "ds says you guys have some sort of finger pincher when your kids are bad? I thought he surely must have something confused? Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

I wonder, though...when I was little my big brothers used to give me a "mousey". That's when they fold your pinky down (doesn't hurt) and hold on. If you move or try to pull away...it REALLY hurts, though. It was a game with us. Not something my parents used as discipline, but I can see it being done as a game, with the other little boy thinking it was goofy, but getting the "okay, okay, I won't do it anymore" jest of it. Like, say they were wrestling with the dad and the boy kept hitting his dad in the head. So the dad gave him a mousey until the boy cried "uncle", that sort of thing.

[Just1More]

oh, missed the device part...

maybe still...the boy sucks on his thumb and they are trying to get him to stop, so the put a thing on his hand from the dentist that appears to pinch but it doesn't really, so he can't put his thumb in his mouth. and the mom was frustrated as she was doing it, so it seemed like serious punishment to your ds...but the other little boy can't do it (put his thumb) in his mouth because the thing stops him?

I dunno. I'm just really hoping for a logical explanation.

[Shelsi]

Ok so I asked ds about it a bit more...he was watching TV the first time he brought it up so he was distracted. After talking to him it sounds like it was just some sort of strange game they were playing. I asked if he'd ever seen the little boy get in trouble. He said yes. I asked what happened when the little boy got in trouble and ds said he had to go to his room and then his parents talked it over with him. The more ds described the "finger pincher" the more it sounds like one of those little toys they sell to the kids, usually at zoos and stuff, that you can use to pick up things.

So I think it's fine. Both dh and I really do get good vibes from the neighbors, otherwise of course we wouldn't let ds go in their house and play, I really would have been shocked to find out they were doing some sort of physical punishment. They just don't seem the type.