Discipline or Time Outs

Melissa - posted on 09/08/2009

I was surprised to see a friend of ours who's baby was born the same week sit still during a time out so we started to do it.



For small things I say no and give a warning 1/2/3 - 3rd time is timeount. I ignore tantrums for 1-2 minutes and if she's lost control of her emotions then I try to distract her to something else to get her to calm down.



For things that are not acceptable at any time, such as hitting, we put her in a time out. The 1-2-3 Magic book has some instructions on how to manage time outs. Our dr. said 1 minute per age, and that is also the guidelines I have read. So she's now into a 2 minute timeout on the chair or on the stair (depending if we are upstairs or down). Once she's made the 2 minutes (I let her cry) sitting there, then I ask her why she is there (although she can't answer but I want to be consistent with what we do in the future) and I answer for her now and explain that it is not acceptable behavior and that I love her. I give her a hug and off she goes 99% of the time.



I know she doesn't fully get it but I did ask my doctor and she said it was up to us how we managed it and if we wanted to do time outs - now was as good a time as any :)

Sara - posted on 08/22/2009

I always wondered how a person actually gets a child that young to actually sit for a time out. I usually do what you do and tell him no and move him to something else.

Lori Ann - posted on 08/22/2009

I've had no luck with time outs, he won't stay put anywhere. I'm a fan of the stern no and the occasional pop on the hand or diaper. But mostly we just try to remove him from the situation and explain to him what he is doing wrong. If it's something he's doing for attention and I can ignore it, I do. That has worked great for things like spitting and tantrums.

Leslie - posted on 08/21/2009

My son just turned 20 months and he has his little monster moments. When it is needed I put him in time out, which is a little stool in the corner of my dining room. I let him sit there until he calms down ( he is usually very upset about it at first ) which is only about 2-3 minutes. Then I give him a hug and tell him why he had a time out and what to do to avoid it. So far I haven't had too many problems with it so I think it works.

Jen - posted on 08/19/2009

We've been doing time outs since Savannah turned 1. Lately she's been seeing a lot of the hallway which is where we do time out. If she's testing her limits, not listening, or just outright misbehaving she goes to time out. We take her to the hallway, sit her down, and tell her she's in time out. When her minute is up (as long as she staid seated the whole time otherwise her time starts over) then she is told she can get up. Upon getting out of time out I tell her why she was put there. If she was put there for not listening then she has to go with mommy and do what she was asked to do. After that I give her a hug and tell her I love her. The past couple of days she's been in time out for biting so I've been telling her she has to kiss mommy's boo-boo lol. We do also do some spanking as well, but it's only for immediate discipline.

Ellen - posted on 08/19/2009

My daughter Kiera is the same way. For the majority of the time she is a good girl, but like your lil man , she too does things that are a no no. I just usually tell her no and explain to her why what she did is wrong. If she continues to do so,then I give her a light pop on her diaper and tell her no in a stern voice. Not loud and scary,but stern enough to let her know mommy means business.