I messed up and put my ds in a timeout...

[maxwill129]

Okay, today was a bad day for Mama. My ds who is 2 kept pushing my dd (who is 7 months) over while she was sitting up, causing her to slam her head against our wood floors. I thought I was handling it well, pointing out that we don't push people in our house because it hurts...but by 6:30 this evening I lost it. I yelled at my ds and put him in a timeout. He sat in the corner bawling and started saying, "Mommy hug! Mommy hug!" I felt horrible. I knew that I messed up so I went and got him out of timeout and hugged him. Then I apologized to him and told him it wasn't okay for me to put him in a timeout.

My question: Did I mess up? I feel like it was okay to apologize because we don't do timeouts in our house and I want him to know that timeouts aren't okay, but at the same time I feel like I just put it in his head that I can't make up my mind about parenting and I question my decisions.

Any comments?

Thanks,
Shannon

[boongirl]

No one is perfect. Don't be so hard on yourself.

[annab]

You may have made in error in having the time out, but you more than made up for it with the apology. That shows a lot of respect for your child, which is going to be far more important than a temporary oopsie.

[Ruthla]

I think you did fine.

So he was in time-out for 3 seconds and then got some "time in"?

None of us are perfect. The important thing is you responded to his cries when he was in time out and sad.

[maya44]

I personally think almost everyone needs a time out sometimes (not for any set length of time though).

However, if you dont' approve of them, then I think your apology was the absoulute best thing to do.

Kids can understand that even parents can make "mistakes" and will appreciate the apology.

[maxwill129]

Thanks. I just didn't know if an apology would undermine me as a parent, but you guys are right- it shows Max that I can make mistakes sometimes but that I still love him and respect him as a person.

I really appreciate you responding to this!

Shannon