Kids can sometimes be a handful to take care of, and even the most well-behaved children have moments where they can become naughty or not follow the rules. Time-outs are a way of keeping your child calm, and it would also give parents a moment to regroup. Using time-outs for kids is a healthy and safe way of enforcing discipline and proper behaviour for your child.
Step 1: Assess the situation
Only use time-outs in situations wherein your child has done something serious, such as not doing his or her responsibilities or chores at home, fighting with other children in school, or if they broke a serious family rule. Talk to your child about the consequences if his or her actions, and warn them that they will be having a time-out if they don’t follow the rules. Make sure to follow through with the time-out if your child does something that warrants a time-out.
Step 2: Tell them why
It’s very important to talk to your child and explain clearly what they did to get the time-out. That way, they will be aware of what types of behaviour they should not do and they will also know the consequences of their actions.
Step 3: Have your child sit in time-out
Let your child sit during time-out. If they don’t want to, then walk them to where they should sit. If they still refuse to cooperate, you can carry them in a way that’s safe for both you and your child. Time-outs are non-negotiable.
During the actual time-out, make sure not to talk to your child, but always keep an eye on them to make sure that they’re safe.
Step 4: End the time-out
If you see that your child has calmed down, then you can end the time-out. Give at least 1 minute of time-out for every year of age, so for a 4 year old, it should be 4 minutes of time-out. If you put your child into time-out because they didn’t do their chores, then make sure that when the time-out is over, have them do their chores. Time-outs should not be a way for your child to avoid their responsibilities.
5. Create positive interactions
Right after time-outs, make sure to create positive interactions and praise your child the next time they do a good thing. Always make sure to let your child know that you love them very much. Praising proper behaviour and giving consequences for negative ones will teach your child to be more disciplined and handle responsibilities better.
There are also alternative ways of doing time-outs, such as putting a toy or an object in time out if the toy is causing your kids to fight. You can also do time-outs in public places if necessary, just make sure to let your child sit in a place where no one can see him or her. Regardless of how you do the time-out, always make sure to follow it up with positive interactions.
Here’s a step-by-step video of how to do time-outs: