For the past year or so, we had always used time out method as a form of punishment to our son. When he turned 2, we used to put him in a bar stool and sat him down in a corner. That method worked for a while until he was big enough to jump off that bar stool. Then we put him over the baby gate that separates foyer and the kitchen/eating area with the purpose of not letting him to be a part of us. It worked for a while until he decided to jump over the gate. Since then we’ve been sending him to his room whenever he does something he’s not supposed to.
This evening after bathing him, I let him play with his toys in the tub for a little bit and stepped out to get his towel in the dryer. Within splitting seconds I heard splashing sound. This doesn’t sound good at all. When I walked in the bathroom, water was all over the floor. Apparently he dumped a bucket of water on the bathroom floor. I was so furious beyond believe! I had been telling him “Water stays in the tub” and he decided to go against it. He looked at me knowing he was in a big trouble. Immediately I decided to do something different this time.
I said to him, “You are done”
I lifted him out of the tub, changed him and said, “You are going to clean up this mess, young man!” while handing over paper towel. He looked at me and started wiping the water with his little hand. I pointed all the missing spot and he wiped them off right away.
After he was done, I asked him, “Do you know what you did wrong?”
He said, “I dumped water on the floor. I’m sorry, Mommy”
I said, “I forgive you. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
Later that night after bedtime story, he told me again, “I dumped water on the floor today. I’m a bad boy, mommy”.
I said to him in a simplest term possible, “That’s OK honey. You made a mistake but you fixed it. You cleaned up the mess and make mommy happy again, and that’s all matter”
He smiled. I gave him a big kiss and said I love you. He said he loves me, and I saw a glance of love sparkling in his eyes.
It’s never too early teaching toddler how to be responsible of his action and take consequences of it. The most important thing is you forgive and forget afterwards.
