Time out

"Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." Proverbs 19:18

I love that verse. I read it in my quiet time this past week and it is what gets me through the day sometimes! It is pretty straight forward: if you discipline your children, they have the potential to have a great life. If we don't discipline, then we are a willing party (contributor) to their death.

Today, my sister-in-law asked if I ever go a day without putting a kid in time out. The answer is NO! As a matter of fact today consisted of a total of 7 time outs and 3 spankings. I think that's just to be expected when you've got 1 kid in the terrible twos and one kid learning how to be a terrible two from the 2 year old. There is one positive aspect to this whole discipline thing: seeing the differences in my children in how they take their punishment.

Noah is complete drama. He will scream at the top of his lungs, cry, whine and make everyone in the house miserable for the duration of his time out sentence.

Maia, on the other hand will try to weasel her way out by saying, "My butt hurts," or "I've got poop." When we tell her to lie on her belly if her butt hurts, she will then say, "My belly hurts." When we respond with, "No, it doesn't," she gives up her battle and takes her time out sentence like a champ, sitting quietly and inspecting my dirty carpet for old food remnants or lint balls. She is so good in time out that I often forget she is there and feel awful when I remember 7 minutes later.