2001-01-02, Tuesday

Bedtime is sometimes quite a challenge in our house. This evening in particular has involved quite a lot of screaming and crying, with punishments meted out in the form of lost privileges for tomorrow. It's hard for me to avoid being needlessly mean at times like this; I try not to decide on punishments in the heat of the moment, and so even at the cost of some immediacy to the consequence, I usually let the child know that some punishment is on its way, but that I won't decide exactly what it is until I'm a little less angry. And sometimes the result is that by the time I've cooled off and made up my mind on a punishment, I can't even remember exactly what it's for.