I don't use time out because it doesn't work. I don't know if it's commonly known that time out is something that was just a theory that a child will settle down if removed away from the adult caregiver. It was popularized by Jo of "Supernanny" fame. She is the one who came up with the concept of a minute of time out for each year of life. Unfortunately we have States in the US who have somehow worked time out into the providers regulations as a kind and gentle way to say no to a child yet not overdicipline them by putting a limit to the time.

A two year old can not reset after poor behavior in two minutes. In fact, limiting the separation to a cuuple of minutes is actually an escalator to children. It means nothing and increases their liklihood of acting out afterwards. Jo also added the system of putting the child in time out, then having a post time out conference retelling the incident and asking the child to say they are sorry. Both of these techniques are also escalators.

It's a system that really is for the adults and feeds into the popular idea that we should praise children and give them a bunch of attention instead of exacting a REAL consequence that matters.

I don't do time out... I do "go to bed". I have a separate nursery and separate older kids sleeping room. If a kid can't make it in the playroom they can go to their respective bed and have the "me" time they need to right themselves. The "go to bed" works great and it doesn't take too long for the child to figure out it's better to be with the group then on their own in bed. They do NOT develop a bad feeling of their bed. They know well enough when they are in the bed to go to bed then when they are in the bed to have their own time and space to get with the program. The idea that using beds to discipline will confuse the child is as silly as the idea that a minute per every year of life will be enough time to right a child's behavior. It's just something someone made up and it caught on because we want to act like we actually DO something when really we aren't doing anything at all.