Do you need a time out?

I was having a really bad morning today, I'll explain that in another post though, and Miss Riley decided that it was a good idea to scream all morning. Not actual crying, more like little bursts of piercing noise that makes your ears ring. After repeatedly telling her No, Sir (refresher on who this is on my About Me page) decided to put her in time out. Now let me remind you, Riley is 8 months old. She was in her walker, smacking the tray to make her snacks fly in every direction and carrying on with her new found voice, when Sir pipes up with "Riley Jean, do you need to go in time out?" Her response, Smack, scream, giggle. So he gets up, picks her up while still in her walker, takes her to the time out corner, stands there for a second like he's thinking "Shit, she can still move." And proceeds to stick shoes under the walker and against the wheels to keep it in place. Then he puts up the baby mattress that we use to block the hallway so she can't crawl off to her siblings room, yes we are truly that ghetto. She just happily sat there babbling away and laughing at him over the mattress! I don't know if this is one of those times where it's funnier if you were there, but I know I sure laughed my ass off.

To spank or not to spank?

You've run out of Xanax and the kids are driving you nuts. Every 2 minutes somebody is crying or screaming, the baby is grabbing everything off of the table, somebody is tattling, toys are being thrown...and it's only 10am.

What do you do? Do you spank them? Do you yell and threaten? Does somebody get a time out? And if so, is the time out for you or them?

Ideally I try to avoid spankings or resorting to yelling and threats. "Try" being the key word here. I usually try giving time outs in the corner, one minute for each year of their age, or when I stop being side tracked by the other kids and remember that there is a child in time out. Then I make them tell me why they are in time out and I make sure to explain why their behavior is unacceptable. Then we end with apologies and hugs.
Now by dinner time my patience is getting very worn and after what feels like fifty thousand time outs between three kids and at least one time out for mommy, which consist of hiding in the bathroom, I do sometimes resort to yelling and threats of a spanking.

Most days I can manage without spanking somebodies butt but certain offenses are almost guaranteed to get a sore rear end. Doing something that can actually cause harm to themselves or each other, usually ends in a spanking.

I know a lot of people look down on parents who choose to spank their kids but there is a difference between spanking and beating. I think some people tend to forget that. I had my butt blistered a few times when I was a child and it didn't turn me into a mass murder or anything. I think that as long as you use spanking as a last resort, you don't get carried away with it, and you make sure that your child understands that you still love them, there is nothing wrong with using it as a discipline method.