Timeout

It was a difficult day for Lizzy today. At almost 3, emotions seem to be overwhelming and when she is not happy, everybody knows.

Today was one of those days.

The day ended with the tantrum from hell in the middle of the shops. If you are a parent you may know the kind - the "you fear that another shopper will call the police about an attempted child abduction because obviously this child is fighting the adult so hard that it could not possibly a parent" kind of tantrum.

On the surface - the tantrum happened because mummy said that it was time to go home and no we could not buy the food on the display.

However, the real reason behind the tantrum became obvious when we arrived home. The entire trip was filled with crying and "no no mummy go back". I had given the ultimatum that if the screaming had not ended by the time we got home, then we would need to have a calm down time in her bedroom. After 2 minutes I entered the room and said "if you're ready you can come out and play now". A sad little face looked at me, and she shook her head.

A few minutes later I entered her room again to ask if she wanted to come out. But there on the rocking chair was a sweet little angel, fast asleep with the occassional sob in her breathing.

Ahhh...timeout had led to the sweet relief of sleep. Although it was 2 hours earlier than normal, bedtime had come. We may have an early morning tomorrow, but for today timeout achieved it's purpose.