Time Out
Eliot has been exercising defiance lately. Is defiance the word? He has been standing on his chair (something he didn't used to do until he noticed that when he did it the other day someone told him to stop doing it) at the dining room table, he has been telling Naomi to leave his toys alone, he has been taking her toys, no matter what they are, he kicked her this morning, he has been hitting her from time to time. Maybe defiance isn't the word. Testing boundaries. That's what it is.
He learned to move a plastic drawer over under his bedroom light switch the other day so he can turn the light on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off (he has also learned to climb the wall in the living room to turn that light on and off and on and off and on and off - oh and the bottom step so he can turn the upstairs light...you get the picture). Tonight we were hanging out in his room and he turned the light off and walked over to Naomi and hit her in the head. I grabbed the front of his shirt with some reptilian reflex parenting gone wrong method and sat him on his tub and told him he was having a time out.
I told him to sit down and he would have to sit there for a minute because he was having a time out because he purposely hit Naomi. Note - I didn't warn him that he'd get a time out if he hit Naomi, he has never had a time out, that tub is not a 'designated' time out space. Basically I did the whole time out thing completely wrong.
He cried and screamed and said he wanted to turn the light off (I had whipped it on at some point in the whole blaze of glory). I told him to sit down and he stood up to turn the light off so I told him I was going to shut his bedroom door and leave him there for a minute (luckily I realized that my behavior was down right stupid and totally ineffective I was the one in need of a time out).
He then really super freaked out.
I went back in the room about 45 seconds later, much calmer and he was crying and said 'no leave mama.' Goodness. 'No leave mama.' We sat down and I told him I wanted him to be gentle with Naomi and that I know he gets mad sometimes and that its not okay to hit or kick Naomi. He said 'no kick Naomi. no hit Naomi.'
I thought I'd be Little Miss Hard Core Time Out Mama. Boy was I wrong.
He learned to move a plastic drawer over under his bedroom light switch the other day so he can turn the light on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off (he has also learned to climb the wall in the living room to turn that light on and off and on and off and on and off - oh and the bottom step so he can turn the upstairs light...you get the picture). Tonight we were hanging out in his room and he turned the light off and walked over to Naomi and hit her in the head. I grabbed the front of his shirt with some reptilian reflex parenting gone wrong method and sat him on his tub and told him he was having a time out.
I told him to sit down and he would have to sit there for a minute because he was having a time out because he purposely hit Naomi. Note - I didn't warn him that he'd get a time out if he hit Naomi, he has never had a time out, that tub is not a 'designated' time out space. Basically I did the whole time out thing completely wrong.
He cried and screamed and said he wanted to turn the light off (I had whipped it on at some point in the whole blaze of glory). I told him to sit down and he stood up to turn the light off so I told him I was going to shut his bedroom door and leave him there for a minute (luckily I realized that my behavior was down right stupid and totally ineffective I was the one in need of a time out).
He then really super freaked out.
I went back in the room about 45 seconds later, much calmer and he was crying and said 'no leave mama.' Goodness. 'No leave mama.' We sat down and I told him I wanted him to be gentle with Naomi and that I know he gets mad sometimes and that its not okay to hit or kick Naomi. He said 'no kick Naomi. no hit Naomi.'
I thought I'd be Little Miss Hard Core Time Out Mama. Boy was I wrong.
posted by Sara at 10:08 PM
1 Comments:
Awww, that's adorable. Jesse makes up with me in the same way: "No body-slam Laura. No practice ultimate wrestling moves on Laura." Eliot is learning some life lessons! :-)
You're a terrific mom, btw!
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