A Time Out Story

Dylan, Isaac, and I were enjoying some Rays peanuts in their Rays outfits when the peanuts spilled. I don't know how, that doesn't matter. I may have even put some on the floor myself. It was cute and I had it confined, so I figured it was a Kodak moment. Anyway, we decided to put them all in a Rubbermaid container to clean up. We started singing a clean up song when Isaac dumped the container. Dylan and I told him not to. Then, he started to dump it again when I caught him. He looked right at me and continued to dump those peanuts back onto the floor. No doubt that he knew what he was doing. So I took him to time out. He's a frequent there these days. I started out holding each of his hands in mine and asking him to look at my disappointed face while I counted to 60 (he gets one minute there).
But he looks away, so I hold his round face and try to get in the way of his gaze while I finish up counting the seconds.
Then I remind him of the good thing to do (when it's time to clean up, you need to help us and keep us all happy, or something like that). Then I ask him to sign that he's sorry. I smile, tell him I love him so much, and ask for a hug and a kiss kiss. Dylan gave me back the camera. Isaac still had some peanuts in his mouth in this smiley picture. He's all better, especially since Dylan's the one cleaning up the rest of the mess. How do other moms discipline their one year olds?
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Bruce V Rebeck likes this.
Lindsay Foley at 12:29pm June 16Haha..your kids kill me! We love them!
Brie Sheaves Williams at 12:56pm June 16I love that Dylan is taking pictures! We also did sit on a bench for 1 minute with your arms folded but had to move on to "put your face in the corner for 2 minutes" because he would just sit there and smile at us. This way I cant see him smiling and dont have to try hard not to laugh. Also, there are corners all over the place and I am not above putting him in time out in the middle of the store.
Jaynan Hubbard Redd at 3:50pm June 16ha, poor Dillan, always cleaning up after isaac...
Danielle Nicole Yarmo Waters at 11:01pm June 16good idea to count. I might even do that for Liam...he doesn't get what 2 minutes is.
betsey said...
After watching this process in action, I do the exact same thing. I've only had to do it twice, but it worked great! Nora is starting to whine a TON, I need to figure out what to do about that!He looks adorable, even in time-out!
June 16, 2009 12:51 PM
Marcie said...
I do the exact same thing (times two!) except that I make them clean up the mess afterwards (which often they refuse to do which results in another time out... so your way probably gets the point across while avoiding another "fight")
June 16, 2009 1:31 PM
Kat Gille said...
Wow, did Dylan photodocument that for you? I think you're training a future photographer. How many three-year-olds do you know who get to play with a camera so much?
June 16, 2009 3:23 PM
Lacey McKay said...
Kat, I know one. Actually, she is two, almost three. Ha!Tiff, I love the last pic, where you can see Dylan in the background by the trash can, cleaning up the mess!
June 17, 2009 12:37 AM
The Fegers said...
This post wins for the most feedback. 4 comments and a thumbs up on facebook, and 4 comments on blogger. Not sure why, but just an everyday thing hits home I guess. It is hard not to laugh at his pouty face, or to pick him up and hug him when his feelings are hurt and he's crying. The corner idea may be the next step so I don't have to keep the dissapointed face on. I do have Isaac clean up his messes, but he has used his blanket instead of a wash cloth or paper towel for wet messes, so I'm working on one thing at a time. And I like having a shock proof camera that Dylan can use. He's pretty good, for a 3yr old. It's always supervised, for the most part.