ABC's of Time Out

LS- Well structured Time Outs are: Appropriate, Brief, Consistent, well Designed, and Educate. This post is taken from pg 12 of the manual.

Appropriate: Does the consequence match the misbehavior? Honest mistakes do not warrant time out. Willful misbehavior does. (violent behaviors, hurtful language, disrespect, destruction)

Brief: Rule of thumb (one minute per year of the child's age) Sherry's addition: for young children I find a portable digital countdown timer or even a sand game timer to be helpful. Another Sherry addition: Rules of time out are important. Child must be quiet and still (do not take still to the extreme though) for the timer to start.

Consistent: Means every time the misbehavior occurs. Consistency about the rules of time out and remaining in time out the whole time. IF THE RULE IS WORTH MAKING, IT'S WORTH ENFORCING EVERY TIME THE MISBEHAVIOR OCCURS.

Design: Don't send your child to their room with their toys. Don't send a child to time out where they have a great view of the show on TV. Do pick someplace boring, out of the way of activity in the home, but where you are able to keep an eye on the child to check for compliance.

Educate: Parents should take every opportunity to teach their children how to make better choices, both when they purposefully choose negative behaviors and when they make honest mistakes. Well intentioned, but ineffective use of time out may as well result in no time out at all. Make sure your child can tell you what misbehavior got them sent to time out and what they need to do differently to keep from going back to time out.