My Timeout Chair | Eastern North Carolina Now

    No matter what you call it; discipline is always a good thing.

    Back in my childhood, the term "timeout" was not used to punish unruly kids. I do remember certain phrases used to alert me that I was close to crossing the line. One was "Hey knuckle head" usually hollered by my dad during one of my forays into the wild side.

    The other was "testa dura". My mother would utter the phrase under her breath and it usually accompanied with a slow shake of the head. For those of you not privileged to a have an Italian mother, the expression roughly means "Hard Head". It is not a term of endearment.

    In my family, mom always did the disciplining. There were two reasons for that. First, she always had an evenhanded temperament that could address the transgression without anger. Second and probably most important, my dad had little of the aforementioned patience and temperament and it was possible his Irish heritage could be unleashed at any moment. We could not afford a funeral or hospital visit during those years.

    I did, however, have a standard punishment for mild transgressions. I am glad to see it has now acquired a name. In my own, family I used the "timeout chair" quite often on my children.

    I keep a memento of cherished family artifacts in my "Memory Trophy Room". I present it here as just a reminder that kids have long memories if you can get their attention.