I blame Ben 10.

'That's it! You have had your chance, it's going off!' If ever there was a top ten chart of parental sayings this would be a non-mover. My five year old, Rueben has just successfully cruised past his three warnings and now Ben 10 has been banned. And he has no idea about it.

In the Glover household my wife and I conducted an in-house 'experiment'; If Ben 10 was actually not shown for a few weeks would this make a difference in Rueben's behaviour? We're already a few door handles down and gone through a few granite slabs from the stamping of feet. Naturally attitude levels hit an all time low and frowns were as common as a woman on a bad day. As much as I fancy Super Nanny I didn't walk to call her, she was a last resort and probably dealing with the back log from The Jeremy Kyle Show.

There has been lots of research and quite frankly bollocks into how we should all parent our kids. As a man we would hand out discipline as was our up bringing. I, for example, was threatened with the wooden spoon and it indeed was used when I stuck two fingers up in my Dad's face. I'd seen it on Grange Hill and thought I'd give it a go. Nowadays if you even thought about opening the cutlery draw to do such a thing you would be sent down for life (and before my Dad gets arrested I want to point out he's been dead since 2003 and it never did me any harm...that is all!)

But do you see my point? By banning the very kids TV show that I loved I never stuck a finger up ever again (unless it was into my nostrils for a good rummage or any recent 'road rage'). At the moment I am into week three of the 'experiment' and what a difference?! By not having Humungousaur  throw various fire balls at the baddies or Gwen turning into ice every five seconds has really changed Rueben's very being. He now goes to bed without an issues, gets up and ready for school within 5 minutes and I've not seen the 'omnitrix' for a while. Quality time as a family has moved up a few gears also.

I am not saying you should not let your child not be a child, that would be wrong. This would mean he/she would grow up too quickly and make our Christmas' boring. I know how hard it is and that sometimes you just want to lash out, you are only human afterall. However, by getting to the very core of the problem will actually bring results. You just have to find out what that problem is.

Of course, this is just from a Dad's point of view about his own son. I would imagine if I had a daughter* I would have to ban Hello Kitty (the kids version, not the channel high up on the Sky box) or Dora The Explorer (is it me or does she have a bit of an un-healthy obsession with The Map?) Give it a go for a few weeks, I'd love to hear your progress.

Exploring children's minds and how they work has fancinated me ever since I found out I was going to be a Dad. There is one thing that has really baffled me though; how can you fit 10 aliens all into a watch?!

*working on this.

Ben Glover is 32, lives in Malta with his wife and son. He is a broadcaster/DJ and writer for magazines plus other publications. The Daddy Cool Box is currently weekly (ish) and an escapism for Dads! For more info e-mail direct: gloverfreelance@gmail.com