So Emily got in trouble during school time today and earned minutes in the BIG OLD UGLY BROWN chair in my room-- that is what she said to me one day,
"How come I have to sit in your big old ugly brown chair?" AND I replied, "You don't. Have a seat on the floor."
This did not go over well.
Anyway, over the course of the morning she worked her way into 35 minutes of sitting in the "big old ugly brown" chair and doing nothing.
The premise is "If you waste my teaching time, I will waste YOUR playing time" We will see if it helps!
Anyway, so she is sitting in the "big old ugly brown" chair and she gets up and comes over to me.
Emily: "Mom, Kate and I are going to do a play of Alice in Wonderland."
Me: "Great, sit back down."
2 min later.
Emily: " Kaitlin says I cant be the queen, she says Kirsten is going to be the Queen but I want to know how is Kirsten going to chop off peoples heads? I think I should be the queen."
Me: "I am sure you are a great head chopper offer, but right now you are in time out. SHHH."
2 min later.
Emily: "Hey mom it is 3:33. That's funny."
Me: "Shhh."
2 min late.
Emily: "did you hear your phone ring? Do you want me to go get it?"
Me: "No I am fine. SHHH."
2 min later.
Emily: "Did you know Ma Ma has Cats and Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore?"
Me: "Shhh"
Emily: "Well we can watch it when we go to her house, remember the part..."
Me: "SHHHHH"
2 min later.
Emily: "Is my 35 minutes up?"
Me: "No, shhhh."
Emily: "I need to work on learning my part for the Alice and Wonderland play."
Me: "Emily Elizabeth. Be quiet, you are in time out."
Silence.
5 min later.
Emily: singing, " Here to stay is the new bird, he sings a love song as we go along...walking in a winter wonderland."
Me: "Emily, shhhh."
Silence.
Emily: "wonderland (singing)"
Me: "EMILY. SHHH."
Emily: "I really think my 35 minutes are up now. I think they are way up."
Me: "Emily, be quiet. Your minutes are NOT up and if you do not be quiet, I will add minutes."
Silence.
5 min. later.
Emily: "MOM, they have Barbie and the Fairy Fashion books....6 OF THEM!"
Emily: "6 whole books of Barbie and the Fairy Fashion."
Emily: " Barbie fashion... (singing)"
Emily: "I see you in my telescope."
Emily: "It has been past two minutes."
ME: "Emily I have just added on 5 minutes.
Emily: "So that makes it 40 minutes right?"
Emily: trumpet sounds from her telescope I presume.
2 minutes later.
Emily: "Mom it is past 35 minutes and 40 minutes, it is like 45 minutes." TRUMPET SOUNDS.
Me: "Emily. SHHHH. I will tell you when your time is up. Now be quiet."
Silence.
Emily: "Mom can I get up?"
Silence.
Emily: "Mom it is 4:01--- when it is 4:05, I am outta this chair."
Me: You do not know what time you started. You have one more minute. If you had been quiet you would have been up over 4 minutes ago."
1 minute later.
Emily: "YES, gotta go!"
Me: "SIT DOWN!"
Emily: "What my time is up...."
Me: "What do you have to say?"
Emily: "I am sorry"
Emily: "Do you know where my Barbie phone is and can you tie this, i gotta go practice my play."
So what are your thoughts on time out doing Emily any good at all???? ; 0)
I was LITERALLY typing this out as it happens.
7 comments:
I figured that or you have an amazing step by step memory ;)
I'm kinda well, really strict with Emily in her time outs. She has to sit on the floor (no comfort here!), feet crossed and hands in her lap. We don't look at or acknowledge her unless of course she's on fire but that hasn't happened yet ;)
Of course she only gets three minutes and the longest she sat was9 minutes. Maybe you should just hang her upside down? She'll think it's funny at first but 5 minutes in she'll be beggin for mercy!
Oh my goodness, I was laughing so hard!
I know I shouldn't laugh, but that was so funny!
Ha, I wasnt laughing at the time but I was when I re read it.
@ Sarah- actually we dont usually have her in time out for so long... but she has to push EVERY boundary--- we told her 5 minutes for interuptions or "problems" during school and she PUSHED it... we havent had to do that long again since that day.
but put an adhd child in time out and that is what you get... we are working on impulse control, boundaries, attitude among other things...
when she was three she sat in time out too! :) but then she discovered her EXTREME will and it was ON.
Also I dont usually stay in the area where she is in time out... you can see why! I do have to remind her to sit down and not talk because with the adhd, her mind resets every few minutes or so it seems like.. she will literally forget she is in time out adn go do somethign, not disobediently... just her mind has reset!
We also DO NOT usually use a time increment... if it is a simple attitude adjustment or somethign we simply say go sit on the chair and when she has "adjusted" to what she is beign asked to do she simply comes apologizes and gets too it... that keeps her from "BEING in trouble" for not being ABLE to stay in time out! And what we want is the change of response... not an amount of minutes.. Sometimes it takes her longer than other times!
But it was really funny that day... her mind was just going a zillion miles a minute and I was just typing it down as she went.
May I suggest large ear muffs for yourself? :)
@ Brenda--- HA!
I have to laugh! She is so comical! I can not beleive that you kept your cool so long! I would have had to leave the room and lock the door behind me. But you did great, you stuck to the silence treatment and showed her that she will not be the boss. It may not have worked out perfectly, but your point was to take up her play time and that is what you accomplished. Sometimes we can only count one accomplishment at a time. Love Becky
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