Time Out Still Works for Teenagers

The day after Anna's 14th birthday, I had to break up an argument between her and Abby. I can't remember what it was about, but Anna was acting like a 5 year old. So I told her, "If you act like a five year old, you're going to get treated like a five year old. You're on time-out." She looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "Are you serious?" I assured her I was and made her go to her room for 14 minutes, one minute for each year of her actual age, not the age she was acting. Then I set the timer just like I would for Abby.



About 10 minutes later, a bunch of the 14-15 year old girls from our ward showed up at the door to welcome Anna into Mia Maids. Abby answered the door, and when she saw it was for Anna, she asked me if Anna could come off of time out now. When I told her yes, she yelled very loudly up the stairs, "Anna, you can come off of time out now!!!"



Of course, poor shy Anna was so embarrassed that she no longer wanted to come off of time out, hoping instead to just curl up and die in her room without ever having to face the girls from our ward. But, just in case she hadn't heard, Abby kept yelling that she could come off of time out, so she had to come down and face her peers after being mortally embarrassed by her little sister and mother.



Sorry Anna. I didn't mean to be the cause of your most embarrassing moment, but the laugh I got from it sure made it worth it!