The time-out chair

Madeleine has entered a phase that Julia also went through as a toddler: smacking herself in the face when she's angry about something. I remember that this was when we began time-outs with Julia; I would pick her up and place her bum in her pink Disney princess chair, which eventually became known as the "time-out chair." I have similarly started putting Madeleine in the time-out chair when she hits, although unlike Julia, Madeleine usually immediately gets back out. At this point, I'm not terribly concerned that she won't stay in the chair; the main issue is that she is being removed from whatever activity she's taking part in as a result of inappropriate behavior.

Their response to the actual time-out is not the only thing that's different, though. Their methods of hitting contrast each other, and are as distinct as their personalities. While Julia would typically show her anger by glaring at me insolently and then giving herself a defiant slap across her cheek, Madeleine abandons all self-control and just starts smacking her face wildly with both hands. As soon as the haphazard smacking begins, I pick her up and plop her in her time-out chair. Today this required carrying her out of the living room and putting her in the dining room, where we've placed the chair, and then returning to the living room and the book I was reading. A moment later, Julia nudged me, and I looked up to see Madeleine sitting in her time-out chair right by my feet; she had carried the chair into the living room and then sat herself back down. You can see by these pictures how fazed she was by her time-out sentence:





These time-outs really seem to be working.