When Children Start Punishing Themselves.

The other day, I was sitting in my living room, checking my e-mail on my lap top. My eldest daughter was asleep, but my youngest was still running a muck.

As I was sifting through pages of unread e-mail, I heard something that I didn't think I should be hearing, but couldn't quite identify. It was at that precise moment that I further realized that I didn't hear my youngest daughter's very loud, "indoor voices are against my religion", singing, screaming, or random noise-making.

I looked up from my lap top to discover that she was behind the recliner, along with this mysterious sound, just beyond my vision.

In a calm voice, not knowing yet whether or not she was doing something she shouldn't be, I called out, "Sweetie? Can you come here a second?"

She popped out from behind the recliner, so she was just barely within my visual range, looked at me with her bright, tiny, three year old eyes and said, "Okay, I'm going to the corner."

Well, at this point, I was sure she'd been doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, as she jotted off to the corner, willingly. But, I had to take a few minutes to prevent myself from busting a seam, laughing hysterically at her incessant willingness to punish herself, without even attempting to manipulate her way out of trouble.

I managed to stifle my laughter, got up from my seat, and went behind the recliner to see what she had done. As it turned out, she had taken the cup inside the dog food bag, and emptied a good portion of the food onto the ground, creating a nice little pile.

Where this is something she knows she's not supposed to do, it's not something I would have immediately "cornered" her for. So, I went over to the corner, and asked her to help me clean the mess up, which she did willingly, and then I moved the bag to a different location.

I think it was that moment that I realized the whole corner thing wasn't working. She obviously knew she wasn't allowed to do this. She obviously knew what the usual punishment was for her doing something she wasn't allowed to do. She obviously had weighed the pros and cons of each decision. And, she obviously didn't care about the fact that she would likely receive said punishment.

On a more philosophical note, I think her behavior in this instance gave me something more to ponder about human nature. How humans are likely to do something they want, but know is against the rules, if they feel the potential punishment is worth it, in order to obtain whatever satisfaction they would be getting.