Time-out

I think that time-out is one of the best ideas ever. This comes up today because I've been in New York babysitting my little cousins (6 and almost 4 years old) this weekend. They are brothers who have lived their whole lives in an apartment in New York City. My mom is here with me, and we've been discussing how hard raising kids in an apartment must be.

It's not like you can just send them outside to play with the neighbor kids, like I was sent to do in the suburbs where I grew up. A lot of tension and energy build up in an apartment on a rainy day like today. Tempers get short-- both on the kids' side and the adults' side. I believe the boys have been sent to their rooms no fewer than 5 times each today.

Probably half of those times, they were actually misbehaving. The other half, I needed them out of my face so that I wouldn't explode. My mom has been taking time-outs at fairly regular intervals too. Between a lack of sleep (kids waking us up between 5 am and 7 am each [ahem, weekend] morning) and screaming, fighting, and general little boy mayhem, we're all pretty grumpy here. Which is why time-outs have been a lifesaver.

Wow, in writing this, I've clearly tempted fate. For the last half hour, the kids had been sitting nicely watching Spiderman 2. But just now there was a kerfluffle, and the boys were sent to their rooms for 5 minutes.

Which leaves me, joyously, in silence. My own little time-out. Well, until they start screaming again. But for now, it's good. I love it. No real punishment, the boys get some time to themselves, and I get quiet.

But really. If this weekend hasn't been excellent birth control, I don't know what would be.