It was getting close to bed time and the kids were all in their pajamas. August and Ciárán were running around, going after each other. This is normal, but things began to escalate as Ciárán went to punch August. This earned him a “time out” but since he wasn’t really being malicious (August was egging him on) I told him to sit in the little rocking chair.
August left the front room, and Ciárán clearly wanted to get up and go after him. Ciárán asked how long he had to sit in the chair. I told him 3 minutes, and he immediately began to get a bit squirmy. Laura offered to help count to 180, and somewhere around 30, it was clear Ciárán’s squirminess was purposeful.
By the time 60 rolled around, Ciárán was out of the front room. He hadn’t left the chair. I didn’t tell him he had to stay in one spot. Technically, he was following the rules of his time out.
Laura and I were laughing, especially after August came back into the living room and Ciárán attempted to turn around and continue to go after him. He got hung up on the rug and couldn’t make any more progress, and at 140, he got up out of the chair to move it.
We had to start counting over again.