Monday night I did a "first" with my son.
It's been a while since I've had to send him to time out, but Monday he just kept pushing the fences. He likes to think he is always right,( I have NO idea where he gets that from!) and just wouldn't stop pressing the issue.
"Mom, I only have 5 minutes left of reading time!" (did I mention he HATES to have to read 20 minutes a day? You'd think I was making him scrub the toilet or something.)
"Yes, I know. You can read this article from The Friend in only 5 minutes."
"No, mom. It will take me longer, like 7 minutes, and I shouldn't have to read longer than 5 minutes."
"Actually, it will only take you 5 minutes, and in the time it's taken for you to argue with me about it, you could have been half done!"
"Spirit of love, Mom..."
(We had set a family goal for this year to speak with the spirit of love, and he loved to remind me of that.)
"Ok, Bud. You're makin' me mad. Now read the article or you'll have to read for another half hour!" (not so much in the spirit of love)
"But, Mom, I only have 5 more minutes and this will take longer....."
"Ok, that's it! Go to your room!"
He yelled from time out the entire time that he was ready to behave, which earned him more time out, which made him yell more that he was ready to behave, which made me completely lose it, which led to this:
"Ok, you just landed yourself in time out for the rest of the night! You'll eat your dinner in time out, you lose all video games, you don't get to spend any time with mommy or daddy tonight... you get nothing!"
"So, I have to pee in time out, too?"
(Grrrrrr...... this kid will never get it! How dare he make me smile when I'm angry!)
So anyway, he had his first All Night Time Out. He still didn't get the concept that you don't yell under the door to have a conversation while in time out. However, all in all it turned out rather well. The peace and quiet in the house was so different from a normal evening, I didn't know what to do with myself!
Maybe I'll make All Night Time Out a regular thing! If he keeps saying "spirit of love, Mom" I will!!!!
Side note: When I went in to bring him his dinner, he was doing pull ups from his bed without a shirt on- looks like he is completely at ease "doing time"!
The Scream
2 weeks ago
3 comments:
All night time out sounds great. I'm glad I'm not the only one who loses my patience with my smart mouthed kid.
Classic he was doing pull ups shirtless...I am going to have to remember that "spirit of love..."
All night time out, huh? I think you may have started a new trend! I have been trying the go-to-bed-right-after-dinner thing, but at 4 AM when he wakes up and comes in my room, I often wish I hadn't.
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