Tell Me He's Not Oscar-Worthy

My little preshus flipped out on me today in a skateboard shop (where I was trying to get my rotten 16 year brother a new pair of kicks). Good times. I leaned in close mid-wail and hissed out an order to get to the car. Once buckled back in I issued his punishment: 4 minutes in timeout. Now, I've got the world's longest fuse, but once I issue a punishment, there ain't no gettin' out of it. He was heartbroken, of course, that I would be mad at him about anything, and apologized all the way home. Well, apologizing and also rationalizing why, exactly, he didn't deserve a timeout to begin with.

My take on the situation is this: You flip out on me in public after numerous chances to straighten up your act and you get a timeout, and frankly, you've earned it.

His take on the situation: I yelled at him (hissed in his ear actually) which made him terribly sad and upset, and therefore I deserve the timeout for being a mean, mean mommy, and he deserved a bowl of vanilla ice cream for having had to put up with all my meanness.

In the end, I retracted the timeout because his apologies where heartfelt and numerous. Neither of us had to go to our rooms, but neither of us got any ice cream either.

Once we got back in the house he told me that he cried in the store because his heart controls him and his heart was sad that I yelled. And after that knife twisted in my heart, I fell to the ground dead.