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Are you having problems with your smaller children and different punishments aren't really working? Why not try Time-Out as this form of punishment can work very well.
Sometimes your child just won't listen when you tell them to stop doing something, say throwing toys, or even throwing a temper tantrum so maybe it is time to try Time-Out. You will need to learn to trust yourself when imposing this form of punishment and at first you may think 'I really don't have a lot of confidence in trying something new but there needs to be some change in my home and I
will try something new.'
If you go by the definition of Time-Out, it is the taking of a child away from reinforcement, say some activity such as playing for a short period of time. It doesn't really matter where you impose the Time-Out so long as it is in an
area where the child can't play or enjoy themselves with a toy, a television, or any other form of entertainment. The child doesn't need to be where he can watch other children play or even be able to look out a window to enjoy perhaps
what is happening outside the window. Sometimes a parent will let a child read a book during Time-Out but this is entirely up to you.
A thought would be to not use the child's bedroom for a Time-Out as their bedroom is hardly ever dull. Perhaps pick a bare wall or a corner where the child will have bsolutely nothing to look upon while in Time-Out. Some parents have a certain chair in a room facing a blank wall or a corner that is actually called the Time-Out chair so that when the parent says to the child, it is time for you to go to Time-Out the child will know he is to go and sit in the chair and that is the special Time-Out spot.
A period of time needs to be set aside ffor this Time-Out, maybe tell the child well you will be in Time-Out for five minutes, now to an adult this is not considered a long period of time but for a child it certainly is a very long time.
You might get a kitchen timer, an egg timer, or a specially made Time-Out clock you can order from certain catalogues. Setting the clock is good as the parent could be involved in something else and the time would be longer than necessary and of course you have to be fair always to your child even in Time-Out. As they get older they will question why they have been in Time-Out too long so you need to be as a parent fair and always consistent.
A lot of parenting experts say that a child should be in Time-Out a minute for each year of age, so for a five year old it would be five minutes and thus on different age levels, different minutes of Time-Out. They have decided
this so as to advise a parent not to leave a child in Time-Out too very long and also that the fair and moderate punishment suits the developmental age of the child and this certainly sounds reasonable and fair, doesn't it. I do think so.
You can run a risk of over punishing your child if you leave them too long in Time-Out, really what needs to be done is to evaluate the purpose and reason for the time out and the length of the Time-Out for each child.
Tell the child that the official Time-Out doesn't start until they are seated in the Time-Out chair or standing or sitting on the floor in the Time-Out area, otherwise you will be hearing, 'well, I have already been in Time-Out for one minute.' This certainly ends that problem.
Another helpful hint would be to not answer questions or talk to the child during this Time-Out period of time, let them spend that time in silence and alone and don't let other children pass by and tease or even talk to the child.
I do hope these helpful hints and information have been of major help to you and do hope that you try Time-Out, it may be the answer to the behavioral problems in your home: let's hope so.
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