Time out?

[Momof4]

Very few timeouts are used here too, usually for one child getting through a phase now and then until they realize that I do not allow certain behaviours, period. I have a chair in the corner of the room and after they calm down I talk to them eye to eye and make them apologize to their friend if they hurt someone.

I don't use a certain time because I think toddlers have the attention span of fruit flies so if you leave them too long they won't even remember why they are there. The idea is to remove them from the play and let them calm down or know that it isn't fun to have a timeout and miss out on things. I also remove toys and put them up high where they can be seen but not touched if they don't share.

All children are different and you have to find out what works best with each child. And consistency and never caving in to them will work.

[gcj]

Kids here are not allowed to hurt themselves or others and may not break things. That covers almost everything. When they are disobeying, they are reminded of the rule, the next time they are told again and that the next time will result in time out and of course the 3rd time it's time out. Time out is in a corner, 1 min/age, followed by a discussion about what they did wrong, why it's wrong and how they must correct their behaviour and an apology to whomever deserves it. However, if it is an ongoing problem, I may skip the 3 chances rule. If it's something serious that they really know better and had only bad intentions, I don't believe they deserve all the warnings.
Honestly, I haven't had to use a whole lot of timeouts lately.