Time out.

If there is one thing a child hates to hear it's, "Okay, you have a time out." It's funny because as an adult, I think those words would be music to my ears. I know exactly what I would do. I would look the person right in they eyes, turn around and walk up straight to my room. I would close the door, not slam it, and hop into bed. Instead of the expected tears you would hear from a child, you would see a smile on my face. Ahhh...peace and quiet.

Of course there are 2 reasons we adults don't get time outs. One is because we are the ones giving them out and secondly we all feel pretty much the same as to what we would do if we received them. I know at my age if I received a minute for each year of my life---standard practice---we're looking at nearly an hour of rest. That would be more than okay by me.

As a kid I don't remember hearing about time outs; I heard a number of times about "getting my mouth washed out with soap" and of course the old, "I will break your neck," (Mine is still in good form after all of those threats) but never a time out. Could this be a development that grew out of the 60s and 70s? I have to believe during the decades of "free love" and "mod" that doing something as disgusting as using soap and breaking one's neck fell out of vogue. Who knows?

In our house the time out is usually held at the bottom of the stairs or in the offender's bed room. By their reaction you would think there was some major abuse going on. I can assure you there is not. They usually come about after one of them says something to the other, could be "I hate you" or "So and so hit me" or the best, "I didn't do it" yet they have the paint on their hands. When they do get a time out, we are usually cleaning something up, but we are laughing our heads off as well. It's just great being a parent!!

The photo above is of my nephew. Although it was originally taken because of the cool colors in the room, when I saw his face I knew the picture told a story---he was pissed. He is a really good kid but this day he must have been having an off one. Lucky for me I had my camera in hand to catch it, because when you capture emotion, it just makes you smile. Maybe not him, but me as he was having a time out.

Thanks for stopping by.