Monday 19 January 2009

What a Lovely Thought


What a special, special chair. Who buys this? Do they buy one for each child? I mean, what if more than one child is naughty at the same time? Heavens! Where would the other child GO? TIME-OUT SEAT OVERLOAD! Mind you, it looks more like a bench - maybe if the children were very small you could fit a couple, even three, on there.

I wonder, where in the house would one put such a seat? In the cupboard under the stairs, perhaps. Or in the shed. Or perhaps right in front of the TV, but with a really boring documentary on. I get that "Time-Out" is supposed to be a non-violent, chill out kind of discipline - but a special chair that you order online for the purpose? That disturbs me. What happens when the child grows up and gets into a brawl in the pub - what if there is no time-out bar stool? Or if things get heavy in the boardroom, or while dining at The Ivy, or waiting in the doctor's surgery - HOW WILL THEY COPE?

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9 comments:

Ross said...

Friends of mine have a "time-out" blanket where their daughter goes to sit to collect herself. She's actually self-parenting now. I was there once and she began a tantrum and her mum said 'would you like to go to your blanket' at which she stopped crying, said, 'yes' and walked over and sat on her blanket until she'd calmed down. It was the freakiest thing I've seen.

E.G. said...

Yes, it's the idea of having a special item that bugs me. Is the blanket embroidered with "Time-Out" in pretty stitches? I wonder what will become of that blanket...and the chairs - does one keep such a blanket or chair into adulthood, nodding towards it affectionately, remembering the fury that boiled in one's veins as one sat upon it calming oneself down...

Ross said...

It's just a normal blanket but the weird thing is that she decides when she needs to go to her blanket and when she can leave it. Amazing self-control for a two year old.
I think there should be public "Time-Out" zones where people have to go when they've been rude or inconsiderate. That f*cktard with the laptop in your other post for example. People who spit in the street. etc. There should be large areas designated to send these people where they can hopefully reflect on what complete and utter tools they and what an embarrassment they are to themselves and the human race in general. What do you think?

Jane Smith said...

I'd like one of those seats for each of my children, please (and perhaps one for my husband, too) but I'd like them customised to include a seatbelt that only I could open.

Then I might get some writing done, instead of spending most of my time running from one child-centred crisis to another.

Yes, I know: but right now, it's SO tempting!

(PS: thank you for following my blog--it's most appreciated.)

Gillian McDade said...

:)

I love Supernanny's naughty step too! It seems to work everytime.

E.G. said...

Ross, I'm right behind you on the Campaign For Time-Out Zones.

Jane, you mean you don't have a cupboard-under-the-stairs for this very purpose?? You can use mine :)

Gillian, Supernanny would probably have a field day in my house. Wot no reward charts / naughty step?? :)

Jane Smith said...

Emily,

(Prepare for an inordinate amount of showing off here:)

We don't have a cupboard under the stairs, because we have cellars instead--one of which is full of wine, hurrah!

There is one cupboard underneath some stairs, but that's on the first floor in a near-derelict part of the house and it contains the gun cabinets, which makes it just a little too inappropriate for naughty children even for my hopelessly low standards.

I shall have to keep on releasing my children to the wild, and letting them (MAKING them!) run about on the moors when I'm too harassed to endure the noise any longer.

We have a hard life up here.

:)

Unknown said...

Er we use a corner - by far the cheapest option. We'll probably move out of the house next year and leave the corner behind once we're done with it.
Now I'm wondering - is my little man going to have corner issues later on? Oh dear. Something else to worry about ;-)

E.G. said...

So, Jane, please can you lock ME in your cellar?

Oslo, I think he'll be fine as long as you don't move into a windmill anytime soon.