Daddy Magic: Use Time-Outs for Tantrums

Some parents are willing to do a little discipline with time-outs. I've heard of parents who limit their time-outs to a few minutes.

Limit your time-out to when your child calms down. If that happens in one minute, then great! What do you do when your child has been screaming for two hours? Simple, he falls asleep. You don't do anything.

Also, please note, this doesn't really happen. It may possibly happen once. I've never seen it. Your child stops, and he learns for next time. But if you go in, then you're teaching him that all he has to do is scream for five minutes, and you'll go in. If you aren't teaching him that, then he won't learn it.

The best problem to use time outs for is for fits. It teaches your child that if he throws a fit, he goes to his room until he calms down. I don't recommend it for anything else, because he won't be able to associate it. For example, if he throws his food on the ground and you discipline him by sending him in his room for a time-out, then he won't know why he got sent to his room. However, if you slap his hand and then comfort him, he will learn the lesson VERY quickly.

I've heard of people sending a child to a corner or to sit on a chair for a time-out. Depending on the child, this can be a reward. Instead, remove the child from human contact.

Time-outs can be pure magic. Daddy Magic.




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