Time-Out

Emmett had his first time-out. It happened yesterday morning after he had pushed the power button on the computer several times. I had repeatedly told him “no”, but he wasn’t listening. So we went to Plan B—a timeout. I pointed his little body toward the wall with his nose touching it. I kept him there about 10 seconds, but apparently that was enough because later on that day this happened:

Emmett pushed the power button, again, on the computer. He then looked at me, said “No,” walked over to the exact spot where the original time-out had occurred, faced the wall, and put himself in time-out. Clearly he had learned. I should have been beaming with pride at my superior parenting skills. Instead, I was doubled over in laughter at my child’s self-initiated time-out. I found it so funny, in fact, that I had him replicate it for Tom later that evening. Perhaps not the best way to reinforce the severity of time-out, but it sure was funny!