Sunday, July 23, 2006

Two Minutes

Jon's Fathers always told us, that when trying to discipline Jonathan as a child , no matter what you did, no matter how angry you were, he never cried or seemed to be upset at what he'd done. I can't quite remember if he said that Jonathan would just stand there and smile, but boy is it hard to try and be angry at a kid who is just laughing at you. It actually makes you feel more angry and at the same time, it's hard not to laugh.

Take a look at that picture down there. It's Jon who is actually very angry at that moment. We were trying to get ready to leave and Noah didn't want to put on his shoes, so he took one and smacked Jon in the face with it! Yelling doesn't work, he yells back at us even louder, a spank would only teach him that hitting is ok, ignoring the hitting wouldn't stop the behavior, I've found teaching "gentleness" is just resulting in more hits and laughs and then he runs away. Redirecting doesn't get the message of " that's wrong" out. The only semi-working technique is time out. Noah hates to be confined to any place, so we're using the crib as time out.

So there is Jon saying "Noah, that was very wrong. I'm giving you a two minute time out to calm down". As usual, Noah is smiling and laughing at his angry parents.

Dear lord, how did this kid get this way? Oh yeah, his Dad. :)




3 comments:

Judy said...

Uh, YEAH. He's having WAY too much fun in time - out!

Kendra Lynn said...

Whew. It is so hard to figure out how to discipline kids.
Sometimes spankings work for our kids, sometimes they don't. Other times we have to settle for time-outs, "talks", or whatnot.
There is no guaranteed way that your kid or my kid is going to be disciplined just right or that they will always be well-behaved.

I left the sprinkler park the other day because Merry wouldn't join in with the other kids,she just fussed that there were too many people there.
When I left she went into major hysterics and screamed loudly and angrily until I got her home and Scott put her in bed.
Unbelievable.
I try and try...its going to be hard forever, I'm afraid.

kendra

p.s. do YOUR parents try to get you to discipline the way they disciplined YOU?
Mine drive me nuts...there are only so many times in one day that I can spank, give time-outs, or talk to Merry.

Jonathan said...

My parents didn't spank my brother and I, and I definitely don't feel any need to spank Noah. I mean, what, we're going to go from the family trying to carry a yelling kid from the farmer's market, to the family hitting the kid they're trying to carry from the farmer's market? No thanks.

I have the same hard time staying mad at Noah, because I just want to laugh when I look at him and I'm trying to make a stern face and he's already on to something else. I really have to force myself to be serious. Spanking would have no impact on a kid like him except to make him more determined to do what he feels like. It's counterproductive. I have high hopes for the "time out chair." But the kid's not even two, how much can you expect realistically expect from him? I'm for a good solid "No" and not dwelling.