Time Outs Won't Work with 2 Year Old

Have you tried Spanking,,, My mother had my son since he was 3 months old and she always kept a Paint Stick around and tapped his legs when he acted up and it really helped that way at least she might think about it before she acts up because paint sticks sting....SHE NEEDS DISIPLINED NOW WHILE SHE IS YOUNG OTHERWISE THE OLDER SHE GETS SHE WILL GET YOU AROUND PEOPLE AND EMBARASS YOU IN PUBLIC,,,,,,,Just a little FYI that my mother did with my son.

I don't use time outs at all, not even on my older children. You are right that 2 year olds usually won't understand. Also, 2 year olds don't often have much impulse control or the ability to reason that if I do X, I will have to go to time out. I suggest other methods such as having the child help correct the thing she did. For example, if she pushes someone down, she should be taken to help the child up. If she throws food on the floor, she should help clean it up. If she is out of control and hitting and kicking, she should be taken to a safe place away from the others until she calms down. Ideally, someone should sit with her until she does. She needs to have a safe place to vent her emotions without hurting others.

A great book for all ages is "Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids" by Sura Hart and Victoria Hodson.

Most childhood experts will tell you that most 2 year old are to young to "get" timeouts. Most say to start around age 3. The best way to discipline a 2 year old is through redirection and distraction. If she's hitting, say 'no hitting' and remove her from the situation. It may take awhile but eventually she'll learn that when she hits, people do not want play with her. Remove temptations, too. A 2 year old finds it almost impossible to control herself if there's somethign she wants to explore. So remove the expensive vase from the area. If it's an area of the house that's off limits, put up a baby gate. You can, of course, repeatedly tell her these things but a toddler self-control is very limited - they are very much "in the moment".

I have a two year old. I didn't think timeouts were too effective, but my mom told me it was still an opportunity for her to be separated from the problem.

Make sure she can hear you when you warn her. Warn her twice, on the second time make sure she knows that she will get a timeout if she does again. She should only be on time out for 2 minutes. Make sure you are consistent! Set her in a chair, make sure she is still and tell her the time out will not start until she is quiet. You have to stay there until she is quiet and still and since it is just 2 minutes stand there with her. I have a 6 year old son w/Asperger's and in 4th year of a Psychology degree. It worked for me. You might try having her timeout away from whatever she was playing w/at the time if she cannot stand still. If you do that I would take the toy away for as long as she misbehaves. Positive Reinforcement

I think you just need to change how you look at time out. It's not about punishment and making the child be silent or think about what they've done. It's about taking them out of the situation in which they are misbehaving for a break. Taking away the toys they have hit with, the crayons they were fighting over, the cups they hit another kid to get, etc...
Sit her down, tell her why she's there, leave her with a timer. When the timer beeps, go to her, get on her level - don't talk down to her - acknowledge why she was upset, and tell her why she was in timeout, what she should do instead and then have her apologize to whomever she assaulted, whether it was you or another kid.
"Lucy, I know you were upset because you wanted to play with the crayons, but we don't hit to get our way. You got a time out because you hit Pat. Next time, ask nicely and if he doesn't want to share, come tell me and I will deal with it. Please go tell him that you are sorry."

It is hard to explian to kids why they're in time out or being punished or whatever.

The "supernanny" way seems to be pretty effective. You have a designated "naughty spot" or "time out spot". When the child does something he/she isn't supposed to, you place them in the time out spot, and tell them, "I'm putting you in time out because...(fill in the blank)..and you're in time out for ___ minutes." and it's 1 minute per year of age. When the time out is over, you go talk to them and say, "Do you know why you were in time out?" and try to briefly explain that it isn't nice to hit (or whatever the infraction was - that we have to play nice, or whatever), then hugs/kisses.

Now that being said, I have a 2.5 year old, and I know she's too young to understand what's going on with time outs. We typically do what others have suggested...tell her "no hitting' (or whatever the infraction was) and remove her from the situation - take her somewhere else in the house to play or another corner of the playroom. Sometimes, if you're keyed in to what's going on, there are times you can prevent the infraction from happening, but many times the sequence of events happens in such a way to prevent that.

For what it's worth, and good luck!

I think 2 is a little young for the normal "Time Out" situation, but that is my opinion. I used the restricted movement plan with my children. Time out was in the high chair for two minutes. I told them "No, that is not acceptable behavior" as I picked them up and put them in the chair with nothing. Two minutes later I got them out and things went on until the next incident.
I didn't not allow throwing of toys. If you threw it it was put away for the rest of the day. I know it is taking things away from the other children you may be watching as well but believe me, peer pressure, even at that age has an effect and affect on the other children's behavior.
Instead of listing all the problems with the other mother simply tell her you had a normal day.
When the child behave well praise her for being good as well. Positive comments and extra hugs go a long way too.

Think about what the point of the time outs are. If you are trying to keep the other children safe or diffuse the situation then it doesn't matter what she is doing in "time out" but rather that the behaviour has stopped. Frame the situation to her ina different way. Explain that she is having "alone time" to figure out her feelings or "safe time" to keep her and others safe. The dialouge you have with her is the significant part.