Just Timeout?

My little tree huggers

Tonight we appeased Grace's pleas by attending the Spring Fling at the elementary school. It was a disco-themed event, and people came dressed to impress. Grace (with her super-straight hair and braids) was adorned in some pretty snazzy hippie attire, and she showed some pretty groovy moves throughout the evening. It was lots of fun--especially chasing a tired 15-month old around a crazy dance floor.

After dancing the night away, we headed out to our car only to find the sprinklers were going on the school lawn. Grace quickly headed straight for the water and stuck her hand in. When I saw her attempting to sit on the sprinkler, I quickly put a stop to it--or so I thought.

As we turned to leave, she ran out onto the lawn and paused as if deciding whether or not to just run through the 10 or so sprinklers that were generously watering the green grass and bushes. I threatened immediate and most severe punishment if I got to three and had to come after her. I started to count, and Grace started to run. She ran as fast as her little 5-year old legs could carry her (which her's don't seem to carry her very fast) through those sprinklers where I was waiting for her on the other side. I grabbed her by the hand and escorted my soaking wet daughter to the car, telling her all the way there how she was heading straight to bed when we got home.

Once in the car, I asked her why she so blatantly disobeyed me, to which she sullenly replied "I thought I'd only have to go to timeout." Then it occurred to me--that pause before she made the choice to run was her weighing out the pros and cons of the situation. She figured her punishment would merely be timeout, so it was worth it to run. All thoughts of being mad left me, and I had to laugh. And you know what?, I secretly wish that I had just taken her hand and run with her. Oh to be five and run through the sprinklers again!