Apparently, discipline is a laugh-out-loud riot, at least according to Sam. We’ve been doing the whole “time out” thing for the last couple of weeks, fully aware of the fact that Sam is too young to completely understand, but wanting to get into the habit and curb certain behaviors through the reward-and-punishment mechanisms that any drooling dog could grasp. Unfortunately, Sam thinks that standing in the corner is the height of hilarity, as she laughs whenever we force her there. She’s even turned it into a game where she tries to run off before we’re done counting down the length of her sentence, which means that we have to practically sit on her to keep in her place. Which is apparently even funnier. I can’t wait until Sam is older so I can give her privileges that I can then take away to punish her. I think I’ll start right off the bat with eliminating her college tuition if she keeps touching the television screen.
In other news, Ger and Sam have been going to this “Mommy and Me” class each week, where they do fun and wholesome things like singing in a circle, making crafts, and painting with pudding. The whole thing only cost like thirty cents for a couple of months, so I was kind of suspicious at first. I told Ger that if they shave Sam’s head and ask her to pass out literature at the airport, then it might be some kind of cult. So far the worst they’ve done is to sing a song about sharing, but even that is pushing up against the line in my book.
Pictures!
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As you can see, I bought a cheap plastic wading pool for Sam to sit in. It’s a poor substitute for the real thing, but she enjoyed it enough and we didn’t have to focus every bit of our attention on keeping her from walking into the deep end. Because the deep end was like three inches deep.
Yes…we didn’t start time out until Emma was 2, but she’s done the same thing. Not so much laughing, but the running away. Very annoying. And to this day she still wants me to stand in the kitchen w/her during timeout. Like I did anything wrong!
Heh. That’s pretty smart. If Mommy has to suffer along with me, maybe I won’t get as many time outs. I bet babies have some kind of secret newsletter where they share tips like this.
Ahh…’Timeout’…yes, we too have/currently experience the fun and joy that this brings. Marty(just turned 3 on 7/10) fully understands the concept and will stay in place.._if_…after explaining that screaming and crying while in timeout only leads to a longer timeout. He seems to think that the best recourse is to try to use Toddler Reasoning to escape punishment…that is continue to say ‘OK’ when told to stop somehing, while also still doing the said action and then feining astonishment that he has to now go to timeout……..good times….the youngest, Vince, who will be 2 in Sept. agrees with your Sam, timeout is a hysterical time and plays the same game with me….continue to get off the ‘naughty chair’ and then run back when Mommy and Daddy approach then give the ‘devil grin and eye twinkle’ that I have to turn and walk away from before I burst into laughter……Aren’t kids great!?!