Should time-outs be outlawed?

Question

I think time-outs are creating a society of criminal behavior and acceptance. This incarceration theme has been perpetrated on innocent parents in hopes they will buy the author's publication teaching them something that is not natural. They are nothing more than a prison guard's training manual.

Children are not animals that need to be tied up or confined in a small area. Imagine the hands that once loved you are now holding you against your will. The child is confined as we confine those that commit the most heinous crimes in society. The more serious the crime the longer the criminal/child must be confined.

However we treat our children as the worst criminals are treated with solitary confinement. Forcing the child not to communicate and confined to a small area is cruel and should never be tolerated by a civilized society. A proud parent of a child that is confined to a corner, not allowed to speak or play sickens me.

How can any parent in their right mind abuse their own children in such a manner?

I think we have already seen what happens when parents try to raise their children against their instincts. We now have a generation of inner city that have no concern about stealing a car because what will happen to them is being confined in a small area. It becomes their new "family." They are then a part of a much bigger family that not only confines them like mom and dad but also, in many cases, provides them with better nutrition, sleep and exercise. Many return only to commit crimes within weeks to return to the best family that they have known.

These time-outs teach a child the ropes of confinement, restraint, captivity and imprisonment. This doesn't address the sexual issue that many of these children are forced to address later on in life.

While there is still disagreement, many that practice the bondage kinks refer back to their childhood as the starting place where they were restrained against their will. It takes on many of the implication of rape where the perpetrator will not allow the victim to escape harsh treatment.

Many of these kids grow up to think of their parents not of a loving family but prison guards eager to lock them up for the slightest misbehavior.

Isn't it about time we start treating our kids like children instead of punishing them like common criminals?

I never use such a barbaric solution for my 3 daughters that are now grown, happy, and have never committed a crime.

Well now, you didn't think this movement was going to stop at the spanking issue, did you?

The ACLU has already stepped in to force some school to abandon confinement boxes. What kind of devices would the government find in your house? Just a simple chair in the corner, a lock on a door, maybe even a straight jacket.

Does your family violate the Texas school law under the new direction of the ACLU?

Students may not be placed in seclusion, restrained, or placed in time out in violation of state law. “Seclusion” means confinement in a locked box, locked closet, or other specially designed locked space that is designed solely to seclude a person and contains less than 50 square feet of space. Students may be restrained only in an emergency.

How about it mom & dad? You provide more than 50 square feet of space?

The ACLU eventually will want to know.

Answer 1

Don't smack them, don't send them to time out hey I got a great idea, why don't we all do what you say and let our kids rule our lives and run a muck with no discipline at all....yeah that'll defiantly turn them into respectable adults.
Times a change hon...there probably weren't as much drug and alcohol abuse in those days therefore discipline is much more necessary now and your husband was probably around a lot when these days fathers have to work a lot more because everything is so much more expensive.

Answer 2

People like you are the reason children are the way they are today. No discipline. How are they to learn right from wrong if there is no punishment for the things they do wrong. If you teach your children right from wrong when they are small you will have good child and they will grow into good adults. I have a daughter 19 she graduated high school with high honors and is attending college, she has worked since she was 16. sounds like a responsible kid to me hummmmmmmmmmm all those TIME-OUTS didn't land her in jail or on welfare or in a mental ward. So you see i have proof a time out when need doesn't hurt the child it teaches them that they are responsible for their actions.
You can go to a store any given day and see the children who don't get time outs, they are the kids falling out on the floor screaming because their parents wont give them what they want. My children ask once and if i say no they don't ask again.
Children with no discipline will suffer their whole lives to fit in with society because they will have problems following the laws, they will have trouble keeping jobs ect.. Guess whose fault this will be?????????????

Answer 3

WHERE do you get this from? You are OBVIOUSLY not a parent. If you are, then I suppose we can just add them to the list of growing repeat offending criminals in this world. So we don't put them in time out. You are against "spanking" as well I imagine. So there goes that option. What would you advise a parent to do? I would LOVE to hear your solution. Now, you obviously have alot of anger issues in the disciplinary department so I can only assume that YOU yourself may have been..."confined" or "tied up"...in other words...abused. For this I can have sympathy...however, you can't knock a punishment that works very well, with VERY little negative side effects. Time outs are meant to be used to teach a child that when they are acting in a undesireable way...they need to "Stop"...."Think"...and find another way of releasing whatever feelings they are having...or to find another way of expressing themselves..whatever the action may have been. I'm one of those parents that do not limit myself to one punishment and I am NOT afraid to admit that I have spanked my childs bum or have TAPPED my childs mouth LIGHTLY if they mouth off...the fact that this country is hell bent on "CORPRAL PUNISHMENT"... IS RIDICULOUS!!!! There is a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to carry out disciplinary actions....I speak to my kids very sternly FIRST, pull aside second, time out third. 3 tries. Don't get it...then you will recieve a spank. MY kids are VERY well behaved I HARDLY ever have to spank because they know that their actions will result in something they don't want! Hence the whole idea of discipline in the first place!! and THEY LOVE me to death! I have an INCREDIBLE relationship with them. Of course I only use these punishment methods for 1 of my kids because the other is only 2. YOu my friend are the problem in this country and I hope that you and the like of you do not procreate!

Answer 4

ok, comparing a childs time out to the way the worst criminals are treated is ridiculous. 15 minutes in a corner of a house compared to life in prison has some minor differences. If you don't like it then just spank your child a few times then, nothing really wrong with spanking, its a little more natural and it can do the job. Reminds of this show I saw on animal planet covering some panda bears, and the baby panda bear kept hitting its mom and backing up and running into it, so eventually as the baby panda ran up the mom turned and smacked it backwards causing the baby to roll over a few times. The baby was fine and it stopped bugging its mom.

Answer 5

Now theres one way to be over dramatic. You need to lighten up the 2 shouldn't even be compared. Ok so if you didn't put your kids in time out and didn't spank them then how did you disipline them? Oh you must have raised 3 perfectly good angels that did no wrong. That's bs cause kids are going to be kids and get into trouble. So that leaves one option grounding them and taking away their toys,tv,video games etc. So what next are you going to be on here saying grounding should be outlawed cause it will make the kids steal because they were deprived when they were younger. Give me a break you said your kids were grown well then you need to find yourself a hobby cause this is just to much.

Answer 6

I have a two-year old and time-outs get her to calm down and think about her actions. Would you prefer a society of hitting? Time-outs allow children to get control over their actions and emotions without violence and who says "sitting down" is so bad? You obviously have never had a fit-throwing toddler that needs a few minutes just to relax. Sitting in a chair or in her room would hardly be a horrible thing. I do not "lock her up in a cage" like an animal. You need to get a grip of reality.2

Answer 7

You can't have children, just can't. Time-out is my favourite tool. They get to sit there on a chair in the kitchen and think about what they have just done and why. Then we have a short listening/chat session. Sometimes kids do not listen at all. They get worked-up to the point that they won't listen to reason and then they are a danger to themselves and others (or things) around them.

You really must watch the movie "The Bad Seed."

Answer 8

Some parents do a lot worse to their children than put them in time out. Maybe you should focus your efforts on those parents. You know the one's I mean,the drug addicted ones,the paedophiles or one's that neglect or bash their kids. Personally I don't believe in time out ,I have a 5 and 3 yr old. Yet I try not to judge others unless they are abusing their children.

Answer 9

I'm not sure where you sent your kids for timeout, but my kids get sent to their bedrooms (which are full of all their favourite things!)
If you have ever attended a parents program, you would understand that timeout is not a punishement but "timeout" a time for everyone to calm down and to diffuse an escalating situation.
If parents didn't have time out, there would be a lot more pphysical abuse out there.
Get a grip!

Answer 10

So you outlaw time-outs, spanking isn't appropriate either. What's the alternative? Sorry, but an intellectual conversation about the appropriateness of a behavior is not the most logical with a tantrum-throwing, frustrated, raving 3-year-old.