Bad Parenting Moment #7,459

Whilst at my parents' house, we continued to have problems with The Boy throwing items as well as hitting his parents to get attention, or when angry. He's normally a very vocal child and we don't often have these problems, but you know -- it's a phase, sh*t happens. Anyway, my parents' house being the size it is, has plenty of uninhabited rooms just right for taking a moment to Cool Down and Consider Our Behaviour (what many people call a time out, but that I'm avoiding, given we don't do the exact two minutes on the naughty chair idea. I'm reframing it, that's all.) 

On one such occasion, The Man had removed The Child from the living room to my old bedroom for a quiet moment, and had placed him in one of the two easy chairs that are currently in there (my mother, far from creating a shrine to my presence as she did for my sister in the years after my sister left home, redecorated my room within 15 minutes of the words "I'm moving out" leaving my lips.)

The Man placed The Boy on one of the chairs, asked him firmly to calm himself and consider what he had done, and to come out when he was ready to apologize. He sobbed and sobbed, which was somewhat unusual, and The Man and I stood outside, wondering if perhaps there was some other problem. When he came to a gasping point in his sobs, we heard "BUT I JUST WANTED ANOTHER CHAIR!!!" followed by wails of the injustice of ages.

....

It's a shame we're not better at concealing our laughter. But we laughed so hard in the hallway that we were leaning on each other for support.