We started it a little, and used it more for things like hitting or biting. If she would hit, while I was holding her, I would set her down, and say "we don't hit, you need to sit in time out" and just walk away from her, taking away all attention, but not really worrying about a time out in a specific location for a designated amount of time. Then we gradually worked into setting the timer and making her stay in 1 spot for a time out, and then walking over afterward to talk about why she was there, work on saying sorry, and moving forward. It isn't until recently, that she has started to really equate exhibiting a certain behavior = getting a time out. Around the same time she started giving her dolls time outs for various reasons, so I figured she was starting to understand the process.
I haven't ever done a time out mat or step, or specific location. I just sit her down near the incident, but away from any of her toys or blankey.
I started just before 2 and followed the ideas from 1, 2, 3, Magic. Hitting or throwing something at someone on purpose is an automatic 2m time out in her room, everything else (not listening for example) gets 2 warnings before a time out..
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We use the 1-2-3 Magic method as well, but we use a placemat instead of his bedroom. We started when DS was 22 months old because he was hitting a lot about a month after DS#2 was born. We introduced it in the same way that the pp described, by setting him down on the mat, saying, " Time out. You hit, you sit" and walking away. At first we would put him down and he would get up over and over, so we had to hold him in our lap on the mat. He would struggle (luckily he was still under 2, so it was only for 1 minute still) and cry, so I would say, "You can sit on my lap for time out, or you can sit on the mat on your own" He then chose to sit on the mat on his own. Now he is a pro. He only has a couple of time-outs a week now, so it's progress. Good luck!
Mommy to two angel babies, 6w4d on 10/21/08 and 8w2d on 2/22/09. I still think of you and miss you every day!
We started pretty young, I want to say like 20 months. We only did it a few times if she was doing stuff like hitting. We had a space next to the couch in the family room and we would just sit her there for a minute. Then, we would have her say sorry for whatever and we would have a hug. DD is 2.5 and I haven't had to do timeout in a long time. I usually just tell her that I will count to 3 and she needs to _____ or she will go to timeout and that's enough.
About year and a half. My DS doctor told a minute for each year that they are. If that makes since. So a 2yr old would get like 2mins. Hope that helps.
We haven't started timeouts since at this age they are not developmentally ready to benefit from what a timeout is meant for. I can't imagine my 2 y/o would actually sit there and go, "Yeah, that was pretty bad of me to do x, y, z. I should probably not do it next time." Instead we have "cool downs." If the reason for DD's tantrums doesn't have to do with lack of sleep or food then we tell her to go cool down because she's too upset. DH has even taught her to take deep breaths. Once she's cooled down then we talk to her about her behavior. I really like this approach since it doesn't come off as a punishment and at the moment I don't have any plans to turn it into timeouts. But, typically timeouts have more meaning after 3 y/o.
Oh, and as a side note, you'll definitely hear people that claim their child "gets it" when they have a timeout.
Re: Timeout!?
We started it a little, and used it more for things like hitting or biting. If she would hit, while I was holding her, I would set her down, and say "we don't hit, you need to sit in time out" and just walk away from her, taking away all attention, but not really worrying about a time out in a specific location for a designated amount of time. Then we gradually worked into setting the timer and making her stay in 1 spot for a time out, and then walking over afterward to talk about why she was there, work on saying sorry, and moving forward. It isn't until recently, that she has started to really equate exhibiting a certain behavior = getting a time out. Around the same time she started giving her dolls time outs for various reasons, so I figured she was starting to understand the process.
I haven't ever done a time out mat or step, or specific location. I just sit her down near the incident, but away from any of her toys or blankey.
We haven't started timeouts since at this age they are not developmentally ready to benefit from what a timeout is meant for. I can't imagine my 2 y/o would actually sit there and go, "Yeah, that was pretty bad of me to do x, y, z. I should probably not do it next time." Instead we have "cool downs." If the reason for DD's tantrums doesn't have to do with lack of sleep or food then we tell her to go cool down because she's too upset. DH has even taught her to take deep breaths. Once she's cooled down then we talk to her about her behavior. I really like this approach since it doesn't come off as a punishment and at the moment I don't have any plans to turn it into timeouts. But, typically timeouts have more meaning after 3 y/o.
Oh, and as a side note, you'll definitely hear people that claim their child "gets it" when they have a timeout.