It is becoming increasingly obvious that we are beginning to enter the next chapter in the saga that is Ryan Timothy Austin, namely the “terrible twos”. This is a very challenging stage because you’re never really sure just how much they understand and yet you know they understand more than they’ll let you think they know. I’m going to give you a moment to digest that run-on sentence.

So what do you do when your child acts up? Tonight, mostly out of shear excitement, our little Ali went off and smacked his mom on the nose. Now I don’t want to sound like a tree hugging whacked out parent (though I do love trees and haven’t been the same since our neighbor ran over my little arboretum with the lawn mower) but it seems to me that spanking in this situation doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m going to hit you so that you understand it’s not okay to hit. If I extended that logic to my college days, it would be like having my dad drink a case of beer to show me it’s not healthy to get uncontrollably drunk.

So, we tried time out. I think he got it! The trouble I’m having is that I don’t get it. Ryan seems to understand he’ll lose a few minutes of freedom if he does something wrong. But wait? So the punishment for hitting is two minutes alone in a dimly lit room on a comfortable couch? Ryan screamed his head off in protest. Hmmm… Two minutes alone you say? I think I’m ready to sign up for time out.