What if she LIKES Time Out??

Dani123

Then what??

Anytime shes doing something wrong, if I say, "This is your warning, then you're going to go sit in time out" she says 'OK!' and goes sits in the 'spot'....Just sits there...no problem....   Now what???

brittneycc1982

I look at it as a place for her to go to chill out, relax, have some time time to think about what's going on.  It's not so much a punishment in our house. If M is throwing a fit, I ask her, "Do you wanna go sit in time out and relax until you stop crying?!"  She either says yes, and then goes and chills out OR she stops crying right then!

 

Dani123

hmmm ok..

I mean I dont think of it as capital punishment lol....guess I just expected her to NOT want to go there so when she just walks over willingly....seemed like, weird LOL

Harms80

Mine was the same way from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 yrs old.  I finally just said "I can see that when you get frustrated, you choose to do something that gets you in time out.  If you feel mad or upset, you can just go find a quiet place to sit and relax."  Time outs ended, he started learning about his feelings, and I carried a book or two everywhere we went so he could go sit down and read when he got overwhelmed. 

They learn the "if I hit someone, I get to leave this madness and have some time to myself" before they learn the "maybe I should just walk away."  This is the perfect time to teach them about the feelings mad, frustrated, upset, and overwhelmed.

jlw2505

I think that's OK really.  I know my older DD will sometimes put herself in time out when she needs a break.  At her preschool, they have the kids sit at the table with their head down to let them clam down.  Its not really a punishment, just time to catch their breath and redirect.  I know when I put myself in time out, I take a deep breath and just relax for a min and it gets me into a different direction or lets me calm down.  I think it saves a lot of trouble if my kids put themselves there and hopefully it is teaching them when to realize that they need to take a break or change behavior.  I think the fight of getting my child into time-out sort of defeats the purpose at times.

Sharon&Paul

My DD is the same. If she is having a tantrum I ask her if she wants to go to time out and she says "yes". So I tell her to go sit on the step. She sits on the step and keeps repeating "momy said no". Then after two minutes I tell her she can get up. At that point she has calmed down. It seems to work for us, even if she puts herself in time out.

thcitynengland87

I think this is great. We never got "time out" growing up. You were bad, you got a spanking, you went back to what you were doing & tried not to cry about it. While I will probably be inclined to give my sweetheart a swat as he needs it, I like the idea of teaching him when to realize he needs a break. I had never thought of it this way & thought time-out was a waste... but as adults, we have to take a moment to chill so helping our children learn this is fantastic.

Thank you, ladies.