Spinoff: When did you start using time outs...

Everytime the boys do something 'naughty' I just keep telling myself....I can't wait until they are 2 and I can use time outs. At 22 months I'm finally admiting to myself that the 24m thing is a cop-out to an extent. I know there will be a 'training' phase no matter when we start. Should I just bite the bullet and start now, knowing that there will be at least 2 months (if not more) of it going in one ear and out the other?

I plan on using the Magic 1-2-3 method. I couldn't add any more questions, but am also curious:

How/where do you do time outs? feeding chair, crib, mom's lap, towel, wall, PNP, chair?

 

I couldn't reply because the answers differ by child. For my son, redirection does not work and timeout works sometimes. However, he has also been known to really enjoy himself during timeout which defeats the purpose. We started them both I guess around 15-18 months with timeout. It has just started working recently and they are right at 2.5. I use the 1-2-3 method with both, my daughter comes at "2". My son counts to "3" with me. We do timeouts on the step and in their room (depending on what was done). For my daughter, timeout also works sometimes. Depends on her mood.

Not sure if that helps but it is where we are...

 

At first my time-outs were simply lifting the offender, saying "No hitting. Time out" and moving him to sit against the wall. I only did time outs for a few offenses (biting, hitting, pushing). I think I stood there with them for 30 seconds or so. I never had a timer, but know they work well for lots of people. For the rest of the stuff, I'd just try redirecting.

It didn't take long for my boys to "get it". I'd say around 2- 2.5 they would stop something when I asked, "Do you want a time out?".

I liked just putting them sitting against the wall away from toys, etc. for their time outs. That way I could do it anywhere (the in-laws, the grocery store, the park). But, my boys would stay. I know other kids will just run away when you plop them down, so a high chair works better in that case.

 

We do time outs just sitting on the floor away from the action wherever we happen to be. I didn't want a special time-out chair because that won't be there when we're visiting friends or out in public. I especially didn't want to strap them down in any way because I felt it would invite a game of escape the confinement.

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Jan 14 2008, 02:43 PM) [snapback]572282[/snapback]
Everytime the boys do something 'naughty' I just keep telling myself....I can't wait until they are 2 and I can use time outs. At 22 months I'm finally admiting to myself that the 24m thing is a cop-out to an extent. I know there will be a 'training' phase no matter when we start. Should I just bite the bullet and start now, knowing that there will be at least 2 months (if not more) of it going in one ear and out the other?

I plan on using the Magic 1-2-3 method. I couldn't add any more questions, but am also curious:

How/where do you do time outs? feeding chair, crib, mom's lap, towel, wall, PNP, chair?

I start them at 24 months, and in Emma's case her first time out was on her 2nd birthday. :blush: They seem to catch on pretty quick. I'd say within the first 3-5 times actually.

My kids are easy to discipline (they put themselves in time out. :huh, they cry sadly and they throw full blown temper tantrums.

We do time outs with their nose stuck in the corner. That's the only type of time out that seems to phase them. When we start time outs we do it on a chair. If they escape we start time out all over so they learn quickly to stay put.

 

I started 123 Magic at 18 months. I first started time out in the crib or the PNP, depending which floor of the house we were on. At 24 months, I had to put away the PNP because they were trying to climb it, and I felt we needed to move to time outs not in a confined place anyway. So, now time out is usually an empty corner of a room, or at the end of the sofa in the living room (all the corners have something in it). I have put them in TO in other people's houses and public places. I think it took them I don't know, maybe a few times to totally catch on to the connection. When we switched to TO out of the crib/PNP, I thought there was no way they would stay put, but they do.

OK, now thinking back, I would put them in TO before 18 months if I really needed to remove them from a situation or just break a cycle (hitting repeatedly, stuff like that).

 

I also could not respond because my girls are so different. With Arwen, I started the DAY she turned 18 months. I was having a problem with her hitting her sister and climbing up onto the dinning room table so for her safety and the safety of her sister, I started time outs. I would say it took about 2-3 weeks before she started to "get it." When I say "get it" I'm not really sure what she totally got other than the fact that EVERY time she did one of those behaviors, she ended up in the packnplay. She deffinately started to associate the behavior with being confined with no toys and no interaction (of course the time out was only 1.5-2 minutes long). I think it took a little longer because originally I had the packnplay in a spot that had a bit more traffic. Once I moved it into the dinning room where no one really hangs out, she deffinately wasn't digging being in there anymore and the timeouts started to work. She no longer climbs the table and has not hit her sister in a long time. If she does, she will go right back to timeout. I don't give warnings especially for a behavior that she "knows" is a no no like hitting. If it's a new behavior, I will give her several chances to do the right thing and if I find it is continually happening (3 or 4 times) then I will start the timeout process for that behavior.

With Lorien, I haven't really had to use them all but 2 or 3 times. She usually just does the right thing. She doesn't ever hit or bite or anything...yet. The only thing she has had a time out for is for playing with the cable box. She just had 2 time outs recently for touching buttons on the cable box that caused some strange screen to come up and froze on my tv. She is very sensitive and it was very upsetting to her to be put in the packnplay. She hasn't touch the cable box since but we'll see what happens. I don't think she "gets it" yet.

 

I started Magic 123 at about 12 months... and they get it. DD can count to three and counts me if I take something away and DS just flips out if he gets to three but lately its not had to even go there.

 

TO is a joke in our house. I have been trying it for a couple of months, but the girls both REALLY love it. Most of the time they will respond to my 'mean' voice, but when they don't I either re-direct them or tell them they are going to get a time-out if they don't stop, get down, etc. I usually save TO for hitting, though. Lindsey is the only one that really initiates hitting - as soon as I mention TO she runs over the the spot (2' space next to the tv - set back in a niche so they can't see most of the family room/kitchen and, most important, the tv), turns and grins at me every 10-15 seconds, and happily comes to me when I call her back out. I sit her down and explain that she cannot hit people because it hurts them, have her say 'sorry' to her sister and give her a hug or kiss the area that she hit. She seems to 'get it' somewhat, BUT the trouble is... as soon as we get through with all of this, Allison will run up and hit either me or Lindsey and then run over to the TO spot! I try to keep it very serious, but evidently I am making it too much fun! (It is okay to give them M&M's in TO, right?) JK Steph