Time Out At A Restaurant...

We spent all day out & about looking for the perfect dresser for the kid's room. We finally decided to go with one at RC Wiley's. Then we went to dinner at Chili's. As we waited Benjamin was all over the place & not listening AT ALL! Ugh! I finally lost it when he wouldn't get off the dirty floor & I asked Chris to take him to time out. Chris was like, "Where?" I finally took Ben by the coat & walked him to a corner. He cried & I tried to talk to him & he wouldn't listen. He wanted to sit back down & I asked if he would start listening & he said, "no." So I took him by the coat again and he dropped his weight & I picked him up & carried him outside...as he cried, "I don't want to go to the car!" I sat him on a bench out front & I sat on the other one next to it. I told him to stay there and that he was in time out. As I began to count in my head...a lady came out of the restaurant & told me, "What you are doing right now is SO important! As hard as it is what you are going through right now you are doing the right thing! Not a lot of parents do that these days and it is so important! Keep up the good work you won't regret it!" As she walked back in I almost cried. It felt good that someone felt I was doing the right thing when all I felt like was a big fat jerk! I began counting out 4 minutes in my mind...as the time was up I went & sat next to Benjamin & I talked to him. I let him know that I didn't want him crawling on the floor because it was dirty. Then I told him that people like to go to restaurants to enjoy themselves and that they didn't want little kids running & screaming all over the place. They pay money to go & relax & have dinner. I asked if he would be good & he shook his head yes & said, "Yes mommy." He is such a good boy when he can be! He wanted to sit a little longer & look at the cars drive by. He saw a big semi truck and I striked up a conversation about grocery stores & delivery. Then I told him our food was probably ready & that we should go back in. When we got to our table, however, our food wasn't there yet and Ben complained. I let him know it would probably take a little longer. I have to admit he was still a little bit of a stinker, but overall he was being better than before. I am glad I stuck him in time out...I just hope I don't have to do this forever!