Time-out Chair

Use a chair in a room other than his room so that he doesn't view his room as a bad place. We put my daughter in a chair in our den (no toys or fun stuff around.) Also, make sure it is a safe place where you can leave him alone for a few minutes to cool down on his own.

The best place for time out right now is a pack and play or a highchair. It needs to be somewhere he can't get out of. You don't need to put it in the corner or facing a wall or anything. He is still pretty young so for the most part you will just be introducing the concept to him. Remember it is one minute per year of age. If you go any longer, he won't even make a connection. Just keep it really simple and when you see him doing something he shouldn't say, "No. Sit down." Then don't make eye contact and leave him there for one minute. When you get him out, tell him what you want him to do instead of what he did that was wrong, for instance, find him a toy or take him to his toys and say, "Play with these" or "Calm down."

Hi A.,

I have a 21 mos. old daughter and just recently started going timeouts. I make her sit on the rug by the front door, we hardly ever use it so it's out of the traffic pattern of our home. When we are outside and she has to go to timeout, she sits by the back door on the outside mat. This has proven to be sufficient for us and very convenient. It surprised me how well she obeyed, she only tried to squirm out of the spot the first time and that was it. Like the others said, you have to be consistent, get down on their eye level, tell them why they're going to timeout and when they're done, get back on their level, recap the reason/what their appropriate action should have been and then give hugs. Also, I have found that if I warn her or even mention "sitting by the door" she'll go and put herself in timeout, while that is very convenient, I think the discipline needs to be a direct action from you each time, you have to get up and physically be involved in the process, otherwise they will start to get confused. We use the phrase, "not until you're a happy girl" a lot so that she can start to figure out how to control her emotions and it doesn't reflect on her self esteem like saying "are you going to be good?" or "you've been a bad girl" etc. I don't know if that part really makes much sense but I like reminding her to be happy rather than hording a lot of negatives over her. Good luck, 15mos might be a bit young for them to grasp the whole concept but it's definately worth a try.

simple... NANNY 911..... That's where I learned how to put children in a naughty chair. After all of mine learned their lesson and VERY successfully, I recommend this method to any and every one who wishes to use it...

The biggest thing to remember is to be consistent (sp?), it doesn't matter where you put him, but you have to follow through, and it has to be for the entire minute. I agree with the PP on that it's def, 1 minute per year of age as a rule of thumb, but that does NOT mean that if they get up 6 times in that minute you give up. I don't agree with using a pack and play or high chair or any other item that you plan on using for anything other than punishment though, the last thing you want is for a child to think they are in trouble every time you put them in their highchair to eat, lol. and it can happen, you need to make a spot that they come to associate with being in trouble or they aren't going to ever really get it. Make sure as well that you explain to him even now why he is going to time out and what he did, keep it simple, "hitting hurts, we don't hit" but they need a reason or they won't learn what they did wrong. good luck.

At first we were using the time out spot....that worked for awhile but then my son started to put himself in timeout because he did not care. Now we use the chair and he reacts wells to it. My only real piece of advice is to be consistant. Give the warning and follow through with it. Put him there and if he gets up go right back and put it back on the chair/spot. It is inportant that it is consistant so that the child knows what is what. If it is a different chair or a different spot then they will get confused and not realize that it is punishment. Good Luck