Baby, go to time out!

I mentioned Arram's Time Out Chair a while back.   Now that he has some capacity for self-reflection, he has to sit by himself for one minute when he misbehaves.  This usually happens a couple of times a day.  As a result, he hasn't bitten me in over a month, and has considerably reduced both the frequency and duration of his whining.  Yay, time out!

Amiri is familiar with the time out procedure, of course, having gone through the process himself.  These days he's quite good at regulating his behaviour and is rarely sent away in disgrace to think about what he's done.

So now he's taken it upon himself to apply this staple of gentle parental discipline to his little brother.

The scene this afternoon:

Arram spots a treat on the counter.  He communicates his interest in the treat by screaming for it.  Seriously, I think the neighbors are alerted to the existence of the treat.

Arram:  *Winds himself up for yet another high-volume round of ear-piercing shrieks*

Dad:  Arram, no whining.  Tell me what you want nicely.

Arram:  *Shrieks like an air siren*

Dad:  Arram!  We don't whine.  Stop yelling so that Daddy can hear what you want.

Amiri, from across the room and self-important:  Arram, listen to Daddy!

Arram:  *Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek*

Amiri:  Baby, go to time out!

Arram:  *Continues bellowing but trots obediently to his time out chair and sits down.*

Amiri:  When you stop whining you can come out.

Arram:  *A few more experimental hollers, then a couple of hiccups, then quiet.*

Amiri:  OK, you can come out.  Come here.

Arram:  *Stands up and goes to his brother.*

Amiri:  Good job stopping crying.  Don't whine any more.   OK?    Now give me a hug.

Arram:  *Nods his head, hugs his brother*

Mom and Dad:  *Exchanging wondering glances while watching this whole interaction*

Amiri:  Now go TELL Daddy what you want.

Arram:  *Returns to kitchen, points at the treat, looks hopefully up at Daddy.*   "Dat.  Dat dat dat?"

Daddy:  You want the banana?  You asked very nicely so you can have it.  Thank you for asking nicely.  Here, you can hold the whole thing and eat it by yourself. 


We don't want to encourage Amiri to get too enthusiastic about meting out the discipline, so we simply acknowledged that he was nice to his brother.  Later that night, though, after the kids went to bed, we were all, "Did you see that??!"  "I KNOW!  I couldn't believe it!   He did it just right!"  "And the best part?  It WORKED!!"