in it to win it

So! Want to know what's a particularly rotten idea? Telling your bolt-for-the-road daughter, who once forceably corralled into her carseat begins throwing things at your head, that she is getting a time-out when you get home.

And your home is 12 long minutes away.

Funny thing? The whole time I'm driving and she's throwing and screaming like she's being flayed, I'm thinking:

I know you can't punish a dog after the fact. They don't get it. You've got to catch them in the act or a correction seems out-of-the-blue to a dog. Is it the same with kids? Aside from the fact that her foreknowledge is making this trip seem like an effing eternity - is a time-out appropriate when we get home? Will she understand why she's on the naughty spot? Should I have given her the time-out on the stairs of the post office? Does she know I wish her carseat was on top of the car? If I'm a Mormon, can I put all 'family members' on top of the car and not get arrested? Or go to hell? More?

Yesterday was horrid. I can only hope today is better. She has 2.5 hours of school. I plan to look in the window and if she is still sporting 'the face', I'm just gonna leave her there. Really, what are they going to do? Tie her outside? No, a teacher will take her home. And call Bear at work.

Yeah. I have a plan.

Stay tuned to your local news.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

very cute. i am certain you could get a good price for her too if you wanted to go that route :)

Menchuvian Candidate said...

Sometimes parenting seems nothing more, or less, than a contest of endurance. Good luck!

Tuesday Girl said...

sigh, sometimes it is just so hard isn't it?

Tricia Roth said...

We watched some show about a family with 13 kids and one on the way, and they all seemed so happy and joyous, and I felt like a failure with my two little kids who do a pretty good job of, ya know, making me crazy and not as nice as I think I am. It is so much harder than I ever thought it would be.

the slackmistress said...

@Busy Woman: You know that

a) they're playacting for the cameras b) she may have some "mommy's litle helper" and
c) She has the older kids to help with the young ones.

So don't feel bad.

@Nita: Good luck! :)

Caveman said...

@slack: "mommy's little helper" is that slang for booze? I know if I had 13 kids it would be.