Time Out

These two words together "time out" are amazing. I love these words. It gets my toddler's attention every time I say them. Er, well...sometimes, not all the time. On our recent check-up at the doctor's office our pediatrician listened to me babble about the tough time I have disciplining my 2 year old. Am I too hard on him? Am I too lenient? Am I doing it right? I use "time outs" and they work, until he decides to sprawl out on the floor or roll his body to another section of the hallway (because he knows that getting up and walking away from time out will result in harsher consequences, so he rolls or scoots or sprawls just to test the limits). Doc suggested that for "time out" I tape off the section that he is used to sitting in. Doc had been observing my guy and suggested that a chair or mat would be too much of a temptation to play on, with, under, or around. So, to keep it simple and just tape off the area he is to sit in. So I did. Low and behold, it was another time for "time out". What happened? He sat in time out and tore up all the tape that I had just finished putting down. So, I re-taped and told him to leave the tape alone and he could sit in time out for tearing up the tape. When I returned the tape was balled up and half way across the room. I seriously did that laugh/cry/yell reaction. Then I threw my hands in the air and said, "Forget it. Go play." And he did. We can't win all the time. Needless to say there is no more tape in the hall and we're back to sprawling.