I Wish There Was Timeout for My 16 Month Old!!!

Updated on August 19, 2011
M.F. asks from Youngstown, OH
13 answers

My 16 month old is out of control right now! He keeps climbing onto the table and saying "Hello" with a huge mischevious smile on his face, I take him down he runs around the living room then heads straight for the dinning room table. Before that he was taking the hip pads out his both his older brothers football girdles while running from me as I tried to take them off him he would drop one then go for the other. I have a fan on and he will randomly pick up his little broom and stick the bristles into the fan..He is now trying to take the power cord out of the laptop,(giggleing of course) It's taken me like 10 minutes to type this and the only reason I got online is because he was harrassing his brothers and I thought I had time..lol I telll him I am going to beat his little cute butt and he laughs at me! Well gotta go chase my monkey boy! Anyone else chasing a maniac today?

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So What Happened?

Are some of you kidding? Seriously? He is a baby. I do have a 9 and 6 year old and they are not brats and for the most part listen(unless fighting each other then it sometimes takes physical force,if you have more than one boy you know what I mean). They don't stick things in fans,climb on tables or purposly destroy things. I am not locking my baby in his room ever. He has no clue he is being mischevious either so how would he know why I'm holding him down in a corner . After his little tyraid he sat on the floor and played with his cars as sweet as can be. And I do not believe in smacking especially a baby and yes he is very much a baby.

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M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

There is time out for him. What do you mean you wish there was? The difference is he won't sit there - you need to MAKE him sit there. Do not acknowledge him other than to keep him seated. He is old enough to know what he is doing is not right.

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A.G.

answers from Houston on

i dont understand....why cant there be time out?...that sounds like a good solution to these various naughty occurrences.

3 moms found this helpful

S.M.

answers from Kansas City on

I strongly disagree with and dislike any parenting technique that involves letting a child be a brat. This week I saw a woman advertising for a "gentle daycare". She said she wants her child rocked and patted to sleep and no discipline of any kind, only redirection at 18 months. I read that to my family and everyone just said about the same thing. We don't need any brats here! LOL.

Why no time out?

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K.S.

answers from Dayton on

I wouldn't make threats I was not prepared to carry out (like beating his cute little butt) because that tends to lead to them thinking you're not going to follow through on some portion of threats so they have to test all of the limits you set even more than they normally would. And I don't see why you couldn't start time-outs. We started them at about 18 months with our son (although not for acting up, mostly for larger safety issues at that point). It took a while to enforce sitting for the whole 90 seconds without us needing to hold him down, but by the time he was old enough to move up to 120 seconds at age 2, he did fine with them, and now at almost 2.5, he remembers what he did to earn the time out and knows he'll have to say "sorry" for it. Usually when we have to do more than one time-out per morning or afternoon, it means he's tired or hungry and we need to pay more attention to his needs to head off some of those problems.

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L.R.

answers from Wausau on

There is time out...Highchair facing the wall with no toys or food. My 15 mo old has been in time out may times already since around 11 mo...they are so much fun arn't they!! :)

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M.T.

answers from New York on

It's fine to put him in a chair facing the wall for a minute, and it's also fine to keep him confined to a room that's babyproofed or in one of those playyard gate areas. IF he sticks his toy broom in the fan, no more broom. His brothers should keep their football stuff someplace not accessible to baby. If he climbs on the table, a firm no and a minute in the time out chair, strapped in if needed, are a good start. If he's laughing during discipline time, then I'd suggest that you need to be very firm. Good luck

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S.S.

answers from Daytona Beach on

if you have a baby gate, put it in the doorway of his room. tell him no when he gets on the table and then put him in his room for a few minutes alone.

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R.D.

answers from Richmond on

There is, it's called his CRIB :)

Use it until he learns to climb out!!

And yes, even with a broken leg, my 20 month old son is practically climbing on the CEILING!!

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R.K.

answers from Boston on

16 months old is plenty old enough to be told "no" if he is laughing he knows he should not be doing it 16 month olds are smarter than you think. Nothing wrong with a timeout at this age if he doesn't listen to no.

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K.S.

answers from Bloomington on

You can ask him if he would like to be a good boy and stay off the table, or if he would like to come sit with you. Or, more age appropriate, tell him No Owies and make him come sit with you for a few minutes. Or better yet, sit on the couch and make him sit on the floor in front of you. It only took about 3 times of that for my daycare little one to quit trying to find a way under the stairway safety gate.

Bottom line, you just can't call it a time out until they're 2. But he's old enough for rules to be enforced.

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S.C.

answers from Des Moines on

Ha! My son was about that age when I told him I'd beat his butt-- he bent over and shook it at me. Apparently the little sh*t knew an empty threat when he heard one!

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N.W.

answers from Eugene on

Last night I needed a timeout for my 15 and 17 year old boys. They were roughhousing, in a fun way, but it was time for dinner so would someone please set the table! They kept goofing off and laughing and couldn't stop. OK, I was just trying to act stern, I actually love that they get along so well, but don't tell them because someone really needs to set the table.

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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

YEP!! Mine is 16 months also and I can't get to him fast enough. He goes from one "no-no" to the next and I can't keep up with him. He literally wears himself out (and me!) and takes good naps and sleeps good at night. We have two sets of stairs and I have to run to get him quick. He's fast too!! He's a cute little stinker and he knows just how cute he is. He's the youngest of 5 but quicker and smarter than all of us put together. =D I do use the crib as time out or have him sit still in my lap for a minute. He understands what he can and can't do. We're having a blast with him but so thankful for naps...

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