Negotiations with a 3-year Old

Caleb was lovingly smothering his brother this morning. Carson was ready to be done with the barrage of kisses and hugs (a two-week old needs his space, man!)

Dramatic reenactment of the smothering.

Krista was doing all she could to stay off the loving attacks and I was not in a position to help Caleb at the moment, so after some verbal requests to cease, I reverted to a time-out. The conversation went something like this:

"Caleb, go to your room for three minutes."

"No time-out, dad."

"If you go now and shut your door, it'll be only two minutes."

"Okay."

"Wait, come back. If you give yourself spankings, it'll only be one minute."

"Okay. Spank, spank."

(Laughter stifled) "Okay, only one minute. Go close your door."

(Sound of door closing and clicking shut.)

Dramatic reenactment of the spankings.
(This is as much spanking as happens in our home.)

I'm sure he'll think twice before being overbearing with his brother (yeah, right!)