I'll throw him in the water!!!

Today I was talking with my 3 year old. We always hold one particular conversation every day. It always starts close to being the same. Every day he says, "Sarah, if a thief came into our house and shot you dead I would throw him in the water!!" Yes, my boy always talks about thieves and how he'll either shoot them dead or throw them in the water. Throw them in the water? Why would that be a punishment equivalent to shooting the thief to death? I know why.

Last June there were a couple of weeks during which we had some amazingly hot days. The kids still had school. After they got out from school I would set up our little swimming pools for the kids to play in and stay cool. On one particular day our neighbors' child also wanted to play. That boy and one of my twins were splashing the 3 year old, Syb, with the water. Syb automatically cried and I had to correct the two boys. The two boys stopped splashing. However, Syb then began to splash them. Again, I was summoned to fix the situation. When I was forced to correct the offending Syb a third time I told him that if he splashed the boys again I'd throw him in the water. I went inside. About 30 seconds later I was called, once again, back outside due to a once-again-offending Syb. I looked at him, walked over, picked him up, turned him upside-down, and dipped the very tippety-top of his hair in the water. He screamed. I set him down safely and mostly dry onto the ground. He never splashed the boys again. And the ultimate punishment for a thief is throwing him in the water.