Time Out!

Thursday night I was doing my nighttime routine of making sure all the animals were fed and everything was locked up and lights were out....etc...

I was just thinking to myself how far Zander has come in the last 1.5 years.....he's so much more independent now and his speech is coming right along...and isn't life good?

As I was filling up the Anakin's water bowl I was thinking how glad I was that I could leave Anakin's food and water on the floor now because Zander doesn't bother it. And, isn't life good?

I went into the other room and all of a sudden I heard it....

Two bowls clicking together.....

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Zander had just poured an entire bowl of water into Anakin's FULL bowl of Science Diet Small Bites Weight Management Formula dog food!!!! Well, crap!!! Let me just go outside and pick some bills off my money tree to buy some more food!!!

I was REALLY aggravated and I slapped Z's hand and told him "No, we do not touch Ani's water or food. Ever." This did not seem like enough to make my point.

After taking a deep breath, I took him by the hand and led him into into his room. I put him on his bed and told him to stay there for 5 minutes. Ok, so I KNOW he doesn't know how long 5 minutes is. And I only planned on leaving him there long enough to clean up the mess. But, at this point, I do think he is ready for time outs.

I didn't think so before this point. But he is understanding so much better now and I want him to know the consequences of his actions. Spanking can be useful sometimes, but I don't like to do it. I think it can be overused....and then its not effective anyway.

So, there he sat on his bed. With his big beautiful sad eyes. And his bottom lip out as far as he could get it to go.

I went back into the kitchen to give Ani fresh water and dry food...when in walked Zander.

Oh, no no no no no. I marched him right back into his room and told him to sit there. Oh, and then the eyes again....and the lips. What a pout he has!!!! (Must. Not. Look. Must. Be. Strong)

So, off I went to get Ani's food and water. I finished with that and went back in to get Zander. He was standing at his doorway, afraid to come out. When he saw me coming back he ran to his bed.

I told him "Ok, time is up. You can come out now. But you are not to touch Ani's bowls anymore."

He continued to sit there.

"Z, you can get up now."

Nothing. Did I scare the crap out of my child? Geez, that was not my intention.....

I went over and picked him up. (Is that aloud after time outs?) I hugged him and told him it was okay. He could get down now. Just no more playing with Ani's bowls. (I was trying to enforce the 'don't mess with Ani's bowl' subject - did I go overboard?)

This parenting thing is tough. I lost my instruction manual. Does anyone have an extra copy?