Time Out - Fort Stewart,GA

As long as the person understands that time out is to help the child learn to get control of themselves, to remove them from a situation that is too stimulating, etc...and NOT for punishment then you don't have to have the child sit or stand any particular place.

Time out, as punishment, out isn't really something a toddler or pre-schooler has any concept of. They don't associate that they are in trouble or that they even did something wrong.

If you have a child that is misbehaving then you need to simply redirect them to do some other task and remove them from that particular situation.

My kids get time outs, kind of. If they really need to take a break, they go to their rooms. They can either come down when they are ready and apologize for what they did, or they can stay in there the full time (6, 8, or 9 minutes).

So I guess it's not really time outs anymore, but more of them needing to remove themselves from the situation, and it's normally an attitude problem that sends them to their rooms.

Our DS is 2.5. We do "time outs" in any corner, anywhere.

If it's a minor infraction- walking away when I am trying to get him dressed, we offer him an opportunity to comply. i.e. Baby can't go out till he's got his shoes on. Mommy's ready to help with your shoes. Let me know when you are ready to put your shoes on and go out. It usually brings him right over.

If its a major infraction- slamming a door, throwing things indoors, hitting, kicking, screaching. We tell him - no slamming, we close the doors gently. if you slam the door again, you will go to the corner. If he slams the door again, he goes to the corner for a count of 30. Sometimes, he goes right back to slamming the door, in which case, right back to the corner.

He likes time out. (go figure). I think its an opportunity for him to calm down and collect himself. He sometimes kisses the time out corner at our house, at grandmas and elsewhere.

We use any corner, we've done it at a Verizon shop, walking down the street etc. I mirror what Grandma G had to say about the point of time out, its an opportunity for little ones to "ratchet down."

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

My guy just turned 4. He rarely needs them anymore, but they sure do motivate him to change impulsive behavior.

He sits or stands, his choice, where I tell him to. He doesn't have a designated spot, because if I'm busy I don't want to have to leave to accommodate him. I find a spot he can be, yes, he sees me or others and what's going on, it reinforces that he's missing out. No toys, books or entertainment, a minute for each year of age. If we're out and about I find a spot for him and he does it there, if I waited until we're home it's not as effective.

My boys go to their rooms. I just send them their, and they usually lie down on their bed.

Usually if they get a time-out, it's because they are very upset and not wanting to calm down. Maybe they're getting mad at me or my husband for saying no to something. Sometimes they're mad at their brother and wanting to hit or kick or did hit or kick their brother. They see it as punishment, because they have to leave the rest of us. Really, it's just because we've reached a point where they need to calm down, and nothing we saw or do is helping.

With our 7 year old, we don't usually have to wait the full 7 minutes. Often, it's just a couple minutes, and we can go in their and talk to him. He usually calms down pretty quickly.

Our 4 year old, on the other hand, is still learning. And he's a different kid. We usually have to set the timer on the stove and wait the full 4 minutes before talking to him. Even then, he doesn't always fulling understand, but we're working on it. Also, he happens to not be as emotional as his brother.

My husband tends to want them to be silent during time-outs. I just want them in a different room than me, I want them to know that they've crossed the line and I want them to calm down a bit so that we can talk about it.

There really is no right way, is there? You just have to try a few things and see what helps your kids the most.

1 min per year of their age. So 3 year old gets 3 mins which starts over each time he moves of the spot til it's done. And I always stayed close by but not right on top of lol. Get the 1,2,3 magic book. It works wonders.

We did 'time ins'. This allowed DS to calm down, remove himself from the situation while still maintaining a physical connection with a parent. We would either sit near him if he did not want physical contact or if he wanted to sit on a lap/in a hug we did that. Once he was over the emotional upset, we could discuss whatever the issue was. Seemed way more compassionate and productive than banishing a toddler to a time out spot to stew over their anger.

My DD sits on the rug in the kitchen. It evolved into our spot. I stay where I can tell if she gets up, but I don't stand over her. I use the oven timer to set her time. She knows that "go to the rug" means she's in trouble. She rarely does them anymore, because we are moving on to other corrections. If we are out of the house, I find somewhere off to the side.

Yes, we use Time Out. Time Out in our house works very well because my son (5) HATES to be away from "the action". Remember, though, that Time Out is about "removal from a situation", not "punishment" necessarily.

In our house, TO is used when he's rude or defiant. Essentially, we make sure that his punishment "fits" the crime. If he talks-back, he goes to TO for 5 minutes. If he refuses to do something, TO. If he makes a huge mess, he cleans it up... he doesn't go to TO for that. He has a small couch in his room and that is his TO spot. He knows that he is to go into his room and stay on the couch. He doesn't have to be "quiet" or "think about" what he's done, but he cannot come out until we invite him to rejoin us.

He's a really good kid and we RARELY have to use TO, so when we do it... it works.

My 2yo has a chair with a seat belt. We strap him in for a timed period and talk to him about why he's there. I've only used it once (when he was very tired and uncooperative and he started to be defiant at a time when my hands were full and I couldn't pick him up--I was cooking), and his nanny has used it once (when he kept unlocking the front door). Right now, the threat of it works, and we dont' have to use that often. I only had him in for two minutes, and he hated it. I keep it in the middle of where we "live", but I turn it away from the TV. When he's not in time-out, he drags the chair around and plays with it. He's really not an unruly 2yo, so I don't know how I'll handle time-outs when he really needs them.

My 5 year old either goes to his room or gets to sit on the steps. I think he like steh steps so he isn't so far removed from everyone. 2 year old I have to stand with him in the corner to keep him there until he's old enough to get it :) As kids, we used to have to stand in the corner of our living room which was right off the kitchen so we weren't too far from mom and she could see if we were complying.