Go sit on the bucket!

Discipline with Caley these days is challenging. She's a good girl most of the time, but she has her share of time outs and reprimands. I guess it's just a process. We started making her sit on a bucket when she is in time out, to help her cement that she needs to stay in one place during time out. I hadn't thought of using a bucket, except that's what Bill's parents used when all the kids were growing up. A few years ago Bill's mom gave "the bucket" to Matt. She'd painted it with red letters-- "Go sit on the bucket!"

Tonight Caley's behavior was getting too crazy, she'd missed her nap, so she just went to bed early. She was in her bed, crying, and I was down stairs just contemplating the whole thing. I didn't want to just put her to bed. I didn't want to listen to her crying for me. I wanted to play with her and read her books and have her sing "Happy birthday to Sapphyre." But both Bill and I knew that in order for her to learn in the long run, we would have to have days like this. She had "made her bed" and now she'd have to sleep in it.

It made me think about God. We are God's children and sometimes he has to deal with us like we had to deal with Caley. That is, let us reap the consequences of our actions. It made me so sad to hear Caley crying, I just want to give her a hug but I knew it would only teach her it's okay to disobey Mommy and Daddy. I wonder how much more God wants to take us as his children when we do something wrong, but instead lets us deal with the natural consequences. When she'd calmed down and taken a little rest, we went into her room and gave her some milk like a normal nightime routine.

I'm sure it will just take time, maturity, patience, and grace for Caley's behavior to improve. God gives us children to sanctify us, and I can guarantee sanctification is a process.