What do you do when….?

By ARM -
So, we’re trying to build on good disciplinary practices, and have engaged this with Addison to combat her (expected) resistance to authority as she approaches the terrible 2’s. She demonstrated this resistance last night when she was asked to put away her toys that were strung across the room. This is a normal activity that we do (we even have a clean-up song borrowed from her nursery school), so it’s not like she doesn’t know how. After three requests to comply, I sent her to a 30 second “time out” to think about her decision. She did so with the expected reaction, and when I released her she apologized to me and Mommy and gave us each a hug. She went on to start cleaning up her things. After about the 4th toy or so, she decided to go off and play with one of the toys, so I asked her to return to the task and put it in the toybox (it’s past bedtime now, and she knows it’s not playtime). She looked at me and thought about it for a minute, then proceeded to put herself in timeout (with the toy) I asked her if she was putting herself in timeout because she doesn’t want to clean up, and she said yes….and then proceeded to get upset about being in timeout. So, the question is, if one puts oneself in timeout, do they have the freedom to release themself? who would she need to apologize to? Looking forward to your opinions....

Comments

Roger and Anne said…
Choose your battles carefully. You don't want to lose THE WAR with kids.
It is an interesting question though.....
MM
October 30, 2007 at 6:30 AM
K said…
Andy - I have some thoughts for you on this one...check your email. They're too long to put in a comment :) BTW, I have a friend whose 2 year old did this, so you're not alone
October 30, 2007 at 4:24 PM
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