oldie but a goodie

One morning last week, Tru was having a rough time. I had sent him upstairs to get dressed for the day and he came back down completely naked except for one sock that was only half-way on. I told him that I would help him with his socks once he was dressed but he had it in his head that his socks needed to be on first. It became a battle of the wills. I remained calm while he screamed and cried and hit me.
It just so happened that I was on the phone with my mom while this whole thing was taking place. It isn't easy to have a phone conversation while your child clings to you sobbing about his socks. And while I was telling him again that he couldn't hit me, my mom said, "Brooke, why don't you strap him into his chair?"
I haven't strapped Truett into one of the booster seats in months and months. The only reason we still even have them on is because our chairs have fabric seats and we don't want the boys sitting on them until they're about 16. It hadn't even crossed my mind in the longest time to use it for discipline, but I thought, "why not" and picked him up. As soon as he realized where we were going the screams changed. Now instead of screaming about his socks he started screaming, "Don't put me in the chair naked! I'm naked! No! I'm so cold Mommy!"
Since that morning I've pulled the chair out several times and it has been effective. I put him in the hallway where he can't reach anything and where he can't see anyone and then I wait for him to stop yelling. Sometimes it takes a while but he gets there eventually and then we have a calm, short discussion about what he did to be put in the chair, what he can do next time instead, and what he needs to do to make it okay.
So thank you Mom for the suggestion of pulling out an old discipline method and thank you to the makers of my little booster seat. You have given me a new level of sanity.