I have been trying the time out thing with my four year old and I was wondering exactly how is it done I put her in a corner where there are no toys and no tv I want to know if I should make her sit still and take her time out or is it ok that she is figgeting and playing with herself and I should not start her time out until she is still adn quiet I also wanted to know if it was appropiate to put her in her room for and hour or so with no tv and toys is that effective on a fouryear old.
2006-12-02 07:19:10 · 11 answers · asked by christycote@sbcglobal.net 1 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
TIME outs are not really effective....
2006-12-06 02:54:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Here's how I do time-outs.....I put my kids in their time-out chair, away from tv and toys. I start the time out when they are quiet and not talking to anyone else. If they play with their hands or fidget I don't really care. And I do time-out lengths for how ever old they are, ex. 2 years old get 2 min., 3 yrs. get 3 min. I don't think that putting her in her room for an hour can really help a 4 year old yet. I think the timeouts will work for now. When she gets older then the room thing will work. Good Luck!!!
2006-12-02 15:25:30 · answer #2 · answered by TheRaven_poe 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I use time outs with my 5, 4, and 2 1/2 year olds. They usually get 1 minute for ever year of their age. (I say usually because at times I forget they are in time out) I start time out as soon as they are Not talking to anyone or screaming/crying. They can fidgit around all they want as long as they are quitet and on the bench. I have had to send my 4 and 5 year olds to their room at times untill they were ready to start listening. (Neither of them stayed up their for long as they HATE being upstairs alone)
An hour in her room with no TV/TOYS is not a good idea. Not only does she not remember what she was put in time out for it also may make her feel like mommy forgot about me Maybe she doesn't love me. I've seen it happen.
2006-12-02 15:43:58 · answer #3 · answered by arabella_noelle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Putting her in her room is only appropriate if she is throwing a fit. There is a time out bench and timer available at WWW.abcdistributing.com
When she is ready to come out of timeout ask her if she knows why she had to sit out. Talk about what she was being punished for. If she is in time out constantly, try stickers on a daily chart for good behavior. If she gets a certain number of stickers she get a treat at the end of the day.
2006-12-02 21:24:10 · answer #4 · answered by j.m.glass 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I started my 2 1/2 year old son on time outs early. It took a few months, but he understood them and now understands that when I threaten him with one, he needs to stop what he is doing. He sits on his floppy couch in the living room with no tv or toys. I don't care if he fidgets, it is hard for a toddler to sit still.
I wouldn't put her in her room for that long. After a few minutes she won't know why she is there and her "punishment" will mean "mommy is ignoring me". Plus, her room has toys, and you want her to have nothing for a few minutes.
It is going to be hard for a while--maybe a few months--while she fights you over the time out. But, when it kicks in, you will be glad you stuck it out.
Good Luck!
2006-12-02 21:48:31 · answer #5 · answered by Beth W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As others mentioned, the rule of thumb is one minute per year, so for your four year-old, the time out would be four minutes long. I wouldn't worry so much about the fidgeting. Make sure that your daughter understands that she has the time out as the consequence of the time out for whatever it was that she was doing . I'd also recommend a book called Kid Cooperation by Elizabeth Pantley to head off some of your battles before they get to the time out stage. Good luck!
2006-12-02 15:45:45 · answer #6 · answered by antieannie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I salute you for finding a method that doesn't involve spanking but for myself I found that the time-out method was not effective. I have read in child-raising books that it is a really useful method for some kids and totally inappropriate for others. In addition Dr. Phil doesn't like time-outs and for me, I prefer to just discuss things with my son until we reach an agreement. And like others say an hour is too long; she will have half-forgotten why she was put there in the first place after about ten minutes.
2006-12-03 17:20:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I totally agree with The Raven, one minute for each year is the rule of thumb. An hour for a four year old is way too long.
2006-12-02 22:19:53 · answer #8 · answered by latingirl0527 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An hour seems too long for a 4 year old. Check out this step by step plan for time-out. It works great for my children.
2006-12-02 15:27:00 · answer #9 · answered by sally 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
rule of thumb is one minute per year old. any longer than that and they have forgotten whey they are in their room in the first place.....besides, timouts are a joke!!! the only time out there was when i was growing up was when we kids CALLED timeout cause we had had enough of dads belt...ha
2006-12-02 15:34:06 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋