The aim of this study is to provide a simple, yet effective and generally applicable technique for determining damping for parametric pendula. The proposed model is more representative of system dynamics because the numerical results describe the qualitative features of experimentally exhibited transient tumbling chaotic motions well. The assumption made is that the system is accurately modelled by a combination of viscous and Coulomb dampings; a parameter identification procedure is developed from this basis. The results of numerical and experimental time histories of free oscillations are compared with the model produced from the parameters identified by the classic logarithmic decrement technique. The merits of the present method are discussed before the model is verified against experimental results. Finally, emphasis is placed on a close corroboration between the experimental and theoretical transient tumbling chaotic trajectories.