Time Out

We have successfully been able to avoid official "time outs" here, that is until now. Previously, if "J" got into trouble, we had a little chat. If things got a little out of hand he would have to have some alone time in the living room on the couch. My sister uses her stairs for time out, and for some reason this didn't work for "J".

Yesterday, "J" was lying down on the bottom stair with his blanket. I asked him what he was doing, he said taking a time out. He thinks it is fun to get in trouble and be sent to the stair like his cousin.

Recently, we have run into a bit of difficulty with "J" slapping or attempting to slap me, if I took away something he was destroying or if I told him he couldn't do something. Also, he has been pushing his cousin out of the way, although it was his cousin who showed him this. I don't want this behaviour to go unpunished or to continue. So, last Friday after a particularily hard hit to my nose, instinct told me to put him in a chair in the corner of the kitchen where he couldn't see anything and had to stare at the wall. Well, believe it or not, it worked! We have only had to do it maybe three times, but he knows right away that he was wrong. And after his two minutes in the corner, he came out a much calmer, appologetic little boy.

I hope I don't have to use this too often, but I am glad that I found a special way to deal with the bad behaviour here. And hopefully this bad behaviour will be short lived, I don't like to see my good little boy getting mad, especially at me.