Teachable Moments

At 7:15 this morning, Titus and I started our first timeout briefing of the day. A briefing usually consists of me trying to get him to understand why he was sent to timeout, and what he should do to avoid being sent there again!

In this case, Titus had pushed Asher away from a puzzle he was working on. The debrief went something like this:

Andy: Why did you have to go to timeout?
Titus: Because I didn’t listen. (His scripted first response—this is right about 90% of the time)
Andy: Nope. Why did you have to go to time out?
Titus: Because I did somesing to Asher.
Andy: What did you do to Asher?
Titus: I bowed his head. (I have no idea what he’s talking about, but Sarah later explained it means pinning Asher’s head to the floor while Titus finishes his activity)
Andy: How does that work? (I should have asked “what does that mean?”)
Titus: Good.

Then I hear a squeak of laughter from Sarah, and I start to chuckle. By the time I regain composure enough to finish the debrief I realize that this particular “teachable moment” was reversed: Titus taught me his best technique for keeping Asher away from my stuff was to pin his head to the floor!