Inadequate Deterrent

Elaina earns the occasional timeout.  She’s a good little girl, but even good little girls need a little adjusting now and then. 

Those of you who know her can well imagine that timeouts offend her very nature, and just a couple minutes is plenty to lend her some perspective.

Last Saturday, I’m imposing a timeout and realize that I have no watch or phone or anything with which to time it.  Normally, I would have just guessed at it, but I wanted a timer to give her a sense of time passing, as opposed to some sort of arbitrary, undefined Limbo she’s been placed in. 

So, I snagged this timer from the kitchen…. 

“It’s beautiful, Daddy!” Elaina exclaimed happily.  “I love it!”

Now, I didn’t give it to her, but she was so enamored with it anyway, just looking at it across the room, that it pretty much ruined the timeout. 

“Want to hold it?” she said/asked.

Aha! I’ve got her now.  I can salvage this yet.  “Not until your timeout is up, young lady.”

“Okay!” she replied, happily.  “Thank you, Daddy!”

Not my most effective timeout.  I won’t be timing them with the cupcake timer anymore.