How much liency for the TO spot?

(Hope I spelled that right!)

Anywhoo.... Still working on the 123Magic and TO's here. I'm just curious to know how much liency you give to your LO's when they are in TO as far as "staying" on the spot you put them?? My boys will lay down or scoot out just a little. Is that cause for me to pick them back up and return them to their "spot"??

I suggested buying two mats and to use those as the TO spot and explain to the boys that they cannot leave that area. DH doesn't want to have to buy anything. (I'm sure the mats can't be that expensive.

What are your thoughts?

 

My two sit in their chairs in different areas of the house.

You can take an old towel and split it in half if you want.

 

Time out is where ever I want it to be when they get in trouble. It's really worked since I've had to do time outs while out and about.
I don't mind if they scoot a little or move a little as long as they are quiet and not being distructive or disruptive. Mine are pretty good about staying in their spot though.
Sorry not much help :lol:

 

Like the PP, timeouts are conducted wherever they happen to misbehave (stores, supermarket, parks, my mother's house, even inside the car!). I think a mat is great idea if you want one, but you don't have to have one. Also, I give a lot of leeway as to how they want to conduct a TO. If they want to lay down, stand and face the wall, cry, etc., it is usually okay with me. Sometimes, if it is in a public place, I won't make them sit (I wouldn't want to sit down if it's on a sidewalk, kwim?).

 

As long as mine aren't trying to return to playing I let them do what they want. We put them in corners (sitting and facing the corner) and it usually results with them spinning in circles on their bellies waiting for the timer to go off. I only do 1 minute still though bc I really don't think another minute would do any good at this age as I feel I'm buying my time with the 1 minute! When the timer dings they know they can get up and have to say sorry and then can go back to playing. I just feel at 2 they are getting the hang of time outs (we started at 16 months) and figure with consistency as they get older it will hopefully pay off For now though, for me, its mostly still learning what time out is for and all about

 

I'm not lenient. They are trying to test boundaries by moving about and I'm trying to establish them with the timeout. They sit on the fireplace--no spinning, laying, moving, or playing. If they don't stay put, the timer starts over. If they repeatedly don't stay put, they do time out in my lap and aren't allowed to move around. It's not supposed to be fun, right? We do three minutes now but rarely have to resort to time out. Usually I can start to count to three and they stop. It works with consistency.

 

They can lay down on the carpet square, they can play with their hands, they can sing, they can't have toys, they can't talk to their sister, and they must stay there until I tell them its time to get up.

TO is really short for "Time out from positive reinforcement," so the point is really just to not interact with your kid while in TO, and give them lots of positive reinforcement/praise when they aren't in TO and behaving.

 

We use a step and call it the 'naughty step'. I didn't mind if they got off the step and stayed in the small hallway. I figured it was close enough and they were just getting too much attention (which DS likes even if it is negative attention) by making them stay perfectly on the step. However, recently DS has been pushing the boundaries a bit and not even staying in the hallway. So, for him we have started making him put his nose to the wall. That way he can't see us if he is facing the wall and doesn't try to interact with us. It makes our point and works with him.