The "naughty" step
Mood:  happy
Disciplining my son isn't something I enjoy. However, our latest ploy to keep the boy in line has turned out to be our latest source of humor.

My wonderful wife, Dana, and I have been - don't tell anyone - watching Nanny 911, Super Nanny and other shows of this sort. The key we've taken away is that discipline has to start early if you want to effectively teach your kids right from wrong.

Back in the day, my mom would threaten the wooden spoon - "1...2...3...it's comin' out!" with little resistence from me - and only once did the ol' man have to take me upstairs to meet with Mr. Leather Belt. Those days seem long gone with all the crap you see about kids suing their parents, Social Services, and just bad parenting in general.

With Joe, the little devil-angel that he is, discipline isn't easy...he's only 15 months old, so when do we and when don't we? We've devised a brilliant solution to when he's being bad - the "naughty" step. The bottom stair of our flight of stairs is a resting point for the boy when he's being bad.

We'll take Joe there, set him down on the stair, tell him he's been "naughty," explain why he's being naughty, give him a minute or two to cool off, then we hug him, tell him we love him and ask him if he's going to be a good boy.

Granted, we don't know if this is working. He's a good listener, but again I reinforce, he's 15 months old.

So, the other day, he's throwing stuff around the house he's not supposed to. Dana threatens to Joe that he's going to have to "sit on the naughty seat."

Well, Joe takes this as his cue to sit on the stair...so, bless his soul, the boy walks over to the stairs, looks over at Dana, backs his way onto the step, sits down, looks back at mommy with a sad face, and is content sitting on the "naughty" step.

I guess discipline can be a double-edge sword for parents - you want it to be effective, but sometimes it turns into a humorous situation that you just can't help but laugh about.

I think we might have to find a new "naughty" spot since Joe doesn't seem to mind his step, after all.