In our house, we don’t use time outs…we use time ins and when necessary, the “think it over spot.”  The think it over spot is an area where Little Man can think about something he has done wrong and calm himself down–all within sight of  mama. And then when he’s calm and ready, we will sit down and talk about what went wrong.  Before Little Man came home, I would have laughed at such a tactic, but I’m tellin’ ya, it works pretty good for us. The bonus is that this strategy doesn’t make the little guy feel isolated or shunned, which is kind of a big deal around our house….

It also, apparently, works well for big girls like myself.  I was able to take advantage of the “think it over” spot above and it really helped me deal with the frustrations and heartaches of the last couple of weeks.  I don’t know….just so much on my mind lately, adoption related and otherwise.  It’s nice to have an afternoon of blissful serenity where the only sounds are the trickling of the running creek and the laughter of one of the most precious little voices in the world.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

So, where’s your think it over spot?