Forgot one thing, unless you want your little one to have some bad associations with his pen, I'd likely quit using that as a deterrent for anything he does and make it his very own private, safe, cozy little refuge in his mind. If he has to spend any time at all in it, you want him to associate his pen kind of like his very own private little 'den', where he can be put with feelings of only calmness, safety, cosines, where he can hunker-down, peaceful and restful, all those type associations when he's put in it, not a place he's summarily put in and has to endure for misbehaving. If his pen is where he also might have to stay in when you run out shopping or workmen are in the house, you don't want him to have any unpleasant associations with it but to feel as good as possible in there. I guarantee you he'll remember you put him in there for punishment and can come to dread it.
__________________  Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |