The Timeout Papers

When my children were young, I used various corrective methods to teach them proper behaviors. But as they grew to four years and older, I realized that simply saying, "Don't do that" was insufficient. They needed an explanation. All parents want their children to grow in virtue, but achieving this end requires calm, careful instruction across a broad range of disciplines, which, of course, is impossible when a parent is angry and a child is screaming. So I began to write The TimeOut Papers, presented here in an easy-to-use spiral-bound book. If Sam is teasing Mazy and she responds in anger, Sam will enter the TimeOut Zone and copy the paper that reads: "Teasing hurts others and causes hard feelings. . . . Dear God, help me to apologize and do something nice for ________________ to make up for being mean." And Mazy will learn through her own writing exercise that " he who has a hasty temper exalts folly (Proverbs 14:29)."