At what age can you start putting your toddler/child into time outs?

Question

Time out--as in--sitting them in one spot as punishment for a certain amount of minutes. Also, what are some other forms of punishment some of you have had luck with other than time-outs?

Answer 1

We call it the "freshy chair" and we only put him in it when there is fresh behavior like talking back or nonsense crying. It started with the crying because he did not like the answer I gave him. I would say," I know you dont like my answer but its still no so you can be mad at me all you want in the freshy chair" and then after a few min he would say," Im done being freshy" I started this around 2 years old. It slowly progressed into the bigger behaviors like hitting and not sharing and other things that kids do. Now he knows that if he is doing something that is unacceptable he gets to think it out in the chair. I also say very loud and very sarcasticly "Excuse me?" when he starts doing something I dont agree with. I do it to the older kids and he just caught on to this being a warning that he is headed for the freshy chair. I have never timed it- because I want him to know that the bad behavior was up to him and so is how long he stays there. When he stops crying or being fresh then he can come out. Its up to him to change how he behaves. So far it has worked on my first three kids ages 11-3 (now if it only worked on my 1 year old!)

Answer 2

3

Answer 3

my daughter is not quite 2 and our way of working through the terrible 2s is a time out. While I have no time limit, when it is only to destract form a bad behavior she is there long enough for 2 tounds of the ABC's and a quick Mommy said no. A quick Do you understand and she is on her way (I always ask that question and laugh at myself afterwards) When it is to distract from bad behavior and a tantrum arises, I leave her on the sofa until she is through....I do ask if she is done and she says yes or no when she is done then we are done. A few hugs and kisses and a firm mommy said we cannot do that. As my children get older, we used a dry erase board with a daily reward...Say a treat or in our case a daily swim. With the word "Swimming" (Longer words for littler kids...shorten as they grow) if my children had a letter left at the end of the day they swam with the family, if not they sat on the side and read while the rest of us swam. I only remember a few occasions that my children did not swim. Just remeber to give a warning before letter removal (If I need to tell you one more time to stop running in the house you will need to erase a letter...) My older children now 10 and 12 rarely need any dicipline and at this age it is grounded from, TV, Computers, and Video Games...I find that the efforts we made while they were younger and by sticking to it, that they are not very often in trouble and I am very proud of that. Good Luck and go with your instinvt on what works best for you.

Answer 4

A good rule of thumb for time outs is to go by their age. A one year old who understands having to stay will have a time out for 1 min. It does not seem long to us, but it is long for them. A two year old gets 2 mins, 3 gets 3 etc. The main thing is making sure that they understand, that is where it can vary in age. Every child is different as you already know so you have to play it by ear. Hope this helps. Good luck and Good health to you and yours!

Answer 5

I would say starting at two and the rule is five minutes for every year old your child is. I usually leave my daughter in time out ten minutes (shes almost 3) then sit down and talk with her to make sure she understands why she is in time out. I tell her then make her tell me back. That way she knows what she was being punished for... works every time!

Answer 6

Time outs only work when the child understands that it is a punishment -most start to understand by the time they are 2 or 21/2. If the kid doesnt understand why he/she is there it wont work .

Answer 7

When ever they realize what they are doing is wrong. The going rule at my house for time out is one minute for each year!! So, my daughter is 2 and she gets a 2 minute time out.

Answer 8

Time out never really worked for me but I never really had to use it nor did I spank. We corrected the behavior and used eye contact when speaking and enforced consequences of bad behavior. The rule for time out is 1 minute per year of age but in my mind are are telling them "I'm not going to commnuicate to you about this and I don't want you talking to me." Doesn't seem like a good way to teach conflict resolution and general communication.

Answer 9

A very early age, but they are presistant, mine climbed out of a crib meant for up to three years old at 13 months and was on his way downstairs, guess who won that one (He did) finally fell back to sleep at 2:30am an hour later.

Answer 10

the hot suggestion is to maintain little ones rear dealing with till 2 years of age, or as long as achievable as long as they're in the top and weight specs of the motor vehicle seat. To be in a booster seat, nicely first, they're in an infant seat which maximum have a weight decrease of around twenty pounds. then you particularly positioned them rear-dealing with in a convertible seat till they attain the top or weight limits, which may be everywhere from 2-4 years reckoning on the youngster and motor vehicle seat. then you particularly positioned them forward dealing with in the convertible motor vehicle seat with the 5 factor harness, maximum of which final as long as sixty 5+ pounds that way. Then a booster seat yet you are able to in user-friendly terms use a booster seat if the shoulder belt sits appropriate on their chest, otherwise they might in all probability