My Lack of Discipline

I've been very bad about keeping up this blog the past couple of months and I feel badly about it.  I keep intending to update it, but never seem to find the time to sit down and just do it!  I have finally found a few spare moments, thank goodness.  Lexi is in bed and Seth is working so the house is nice and quiet.  

Well, I wanted to share a story which happened about a month ago.  I went to pick up Lexi from her babysitter, Heidi's house, after work.  The first thing Heidi asked me when I entered the door was "what do you and Seth do for discipline at home?".  And do you know what????  Embarrassingly enough I couldn't think of one single thing!  It was a real slap in the face actually.  I realized that up until that point, Seth and I had instilled no discipline upon our child.  

Heidi went on to tell me that Lexi, while sitting in her highchair, had purposely tossed her plate of food on the floor (applesauce and all) all while looking straight at her.  She said she had never misbehaved like the before and she tried to put her in a time out for discipline.  It was at that time that Heidi realized that Lexi had no clue what a time out was.  She said she tried to make her sit down and she kept standing back up.  Well, that would make sense since we have never once tried to put her in a time out before.  

It was a rude awakening for me.  Up until that point I had mistakenly believed that my child was perfect, even though I knew in my heart that she wasn't.  Up until that point we always tried to reason with her or try to give her what she wanted.  Well, I realize that now is the time to set boundaries.  Now is the time to show her who's boss.  The last thing I want is for other parents to dread with Little Miss Lexi Prouser comes over.  

So, we are now implementing time outs when she does something naughty and you know what???  They are incredibly effective.  She doesn't enjoy being in a time out so she now thinks twice about doing naughty things.  It's awesome.  We don't do it often.  I think we've done it maybe 5 times, but that's a start!  Being a new parent really is a learning experience.  Thankfully I have a good support system around to tell me when I need to start stepping up my game.  :-)