Hi there, my delightful little girl is 19 months and not a discipline problem (yet LOL), but I want to be prepared and not "caught out" if she suddenly picks a battle. I worry that if I'm not ready with a plan, my initial response might not be the best, and could start us down the wrong path. So far, despite being strong willed, she is still quite re-directable. And there are some things we have chosen to ignore or let go because they are not the things we want to have conflict over. We think we will be using the time-out method, so I'm looking for advice on how best to use it--what type of conflicts, what method works for you--and I especially wonder at what age to start using it? Would she understand it yet?
We started at age two ( and use it very sparingly) as another mama said they dont really grasp the idea of time out until 2 years old, so it just confuses them and they really dont learn anything from it.
K.,
My youngest is 13 months and we've already done a modified type of time out. If she's having a hard time with the family she gets picked up and placed in her room to "cool off". While we take her there we tell her, "it's not okay to yell/scream at Mommy/hit. YOu need to do that in here". Then we close her door most of the way so that she can still get out. She's usually out in less than a minute, crying usually. She'll come over to me and want a hug and a cuddle for a minute or so then she's fine again.
Hope this helps,
Melissa
we use 1-2-3 magic. it's recommended for kids 2 and up. it's an easy read, very simple concept, and works very well... i read the book & bought my husband the book on cd, he listened to it on his commute time.
THE very BEST parenting book I ever read is "Parenting with Love and Logic". Check it out! It works!
we started with our oldest at 18 months for one minute. For hitting and not following directions on serious stuff. now at almost three he gets 2 to 5 mintue timeouts for the same and hitting and sadly swearing. He also gets it if he calls names to people. We have started it with our one year old so he knows there are consequences for not listening and for also hitting his older brother. he only gets them for thirty seconds. long enough for me to explain what he has done.
I started about this time although I might be in the minority her but I do have a well behaved kid. I would put her in her crib for time outs. I would give her one warning and give her something else to do and if she continued the bad behavior I would put her in the crib and tell her you are in time out. She would cry and I left the room. I would not come back untill she stopped crying usually less than five minutes. I did this because I did not want to reinforce her crying. SHe is 3 1/2 now and she knows that she does not come out of time out unless she is calm.
L.
Boy I sound mean. What ever you do the important part is to be CONSISTANT.
I think the age to start is 2 years. Before then they don't really grasp why they're having to sit in time out. And once you start it's 1 minute per year, longer then that and they can't remember why they're there.
My son is 10 days shy of 18 mos. We use timeouts sparingly and eventhough they won't quite understand it all until 2yrs. old it's a good routine to start to condition babies. We use distraction and other tools but when he hits we sit him in his timeout chair and say- we like gentle touches "give us a hug", etc. sometimes "no hit" give hugs. We catch him using soft and medium touch and give a sticker and say " nice touch for doggie, come get a sticker". Good luck.
