I had the MOST ANNOYING conversation with a know-it-all coworker today (who has no kids, BTW).
My other coworker, a wonderful new daddy, was talking about how you don't understand until you're a parent how strong the desire is to take care of your baby's needs... when they made that sad little face it just melts your heart and you just want to drop everything and make it better (his baby is 2 months old).
Somehow the conversation veered into spoiled kids and discipline, and she started going on and on about how time-outs were great for 12-month-olds. Not like, you're out of control, so let's go settle down, but as in, you did something bad, so as a punishment you need to sit in the corner for a minute.
I (very calmly, I might add) stated that I personally wouldn't think of putting a pre-verbal baby in time-out as she would probably have no clue as to how sitting in a corner was connected to her behavior, and that I see any form of punishment to be ineffective in such a young baby, since it's developmentally inappropriate to expect her to control her impulses -- like they're really going to first of all, REMEMBER next time they're tempted to do something that they really want to do that it's against the rules, and then secondly, resist the impulse to do it.
She got all huffy and said, wide-eyed, MOST pediatricians and child pschologists will tell you that time-outs are the preferred method of discipline, starting at 12 months.
Also the other week she was criticising the new daddy for being over-protective and taking his baby back from others when she started fussing. When I said that that was the appropriate response to a newborn crying, she rolled her eyes and said "sometimes babies just make noises; it't not a big deal."
She annoys me.
No point to this except to share with others who agree with me.
So that I can vent rather than just smacking her.
My other coworker, a wonderful new daddy, was talking about how you don't understand until you're a parent how strong the desire is to take care of your baby's needs... when they made that sad little face it just melts your heart and you just want to drop everything and make it better (his baby is 2 months old).
Somehow the conversation veered into spoiled kids and discipline, and she started going on and on about how time-outs were great for 12-month-olds. Not like, you're out of control, so let's go settle down, but as in, you did something bad, so as a punishment you need to sit in the corner for a minute.
I (very calmly, I might add) stated that I personally wouldn't think of putting a pre-verbal baby in time-out as she would probably have no clue as to how sitting in a corner was connected to her behavior, and that I see any form of punishment to be ineffective in such a young baby, since it's developmentally inappropriate to expect her to control her impulses -- like they're really going to first of all, REMEMBER next time they're tempted to do something that they really want to do that it's against the rules, and then secondly, resist the impulse to do it.
She got all huffy and said, wide-eyed, MOST pediatricians and child pschologists will tell you that time-outs are the preferred method of discipline, starting at 12 months.
Also the other week she was criticising the new daddy for being over-protective and taking his baby back from others when she started fussing. When I said that that was the appropriate response to a newborn crying, she rolled her eyes and said "sometimes babies just make noises; it't not a big deal."
She annoys me.
No point to this except to share with others who agree with me.
So that I can vent rather than just smacking her.
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