What age did you start time out?

[egishere]

Just curious! I think mine are still too young to understand but we need it sometimes like last night when DD1 was pulling DS's hair. I even separated them and she crawled back over to him and started it up again. Besides saying no and trying to redirect is there anything else you can do when they are so young?

[Deleted]

~18 months but whether a particular method of discipline is effective or not depend's on the child's personality imo. Time out works very well with my 2 yo for example but has never worked with my 4 yo and still doesn't. The only thing he really responds to is taking away special toys/priviledges. Other things you can do at that age: redirection, positive reinforcement of good behavior, and avoid trigger situations.

[mrssandro]

2 years or so. It still works for us. DD hates it.

[bunch]

A year.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I started it around 15 months or so.

I didn't expect her to stay by herself at that age, so I would take her into the dining room (because it's away from all the fun stuff), sit on a chair with her in my lap, facing away from me. I'd put my arms around her to keep her there if I had to.

After she calmed down a bit, I would use the time to talk with her about what she did and why she got a time out. Not that she really could process it at that age, but it did help. Just having *some* consequence was helpful for her.

[cjeanette]

One year. A minute per year.

[whitepicketfence]

We didn't start TO with DD1 until she was 2. Even then, it's not like she would actually stay where we put her, so we'd send her to the room and close the door (it had a babyproof handle on it so she couldn't get out) for a minute or two. Now that she's almost 3, this works much better and we don't have to close her in anywhere anymore.

DD2 is 16 months and is going through a hitting/hair pulling stage. Unfortunately for DD1, she gets the brunt of it. All we can really do at this age is say sternly, "No, Madison! No hit!" or "No, Madison! No pull!". Usually, the tone of voice we use makes her start crying instantly and she stops, at least momentarily. Redirection also works sometimes.

[drloretta]

18 months. Half the time it's a cooling off period for one of us more than a punishment, but she hates it.

At 1 I was just saying no and redirecting

[zarapipe]

Around 2 years old. She started to get it about then.

[ilikedonuts]

a year

[egishere]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I think I will just keep on doing what we are doing and hopefully do a more formal time out when they are 18 mo or so.

[bunch]

You might be surprised. It's been a very effective tool for us since we started. At almost 16 mos all I now have to say is "uh oh, dd did x, time out" and she immediately stops the behavior.

[pamela]

We just tried it for the first time this last weekend because his misbehaving was of the crazy, just sit the F down child, type. I was quite surprised that he understood and think they might do it at daycare (which totally doesn't bother me like I know it would some people). I did 30 seconds the first time and 90 the second (he's just under 2).

[Shreddingbetty]

Shortly after 2. Didn't really need it until that point. Usually redirection worked fine. We don't use it much because she hates it and so the threat of it is usually enough to straighten her out. We have an ancient TO clock (used for SD) and she'll say "no clock!". She will stay put and usually cry during the whole time (2 minutes). She doesn't even jump up when the clock dings. Counting to 3 (along with the threat of TO if I get to 3) is usually enough to do what I want her to do (or not want her to do

[niki]

2.

[Deleted]

About 1.5

[Deleted]

22 months, then I read 1-2-3 Magic and realized we were doing time out all wrong. I LOVE this book, HIGHLY recommend it! Will get your kid to do everything!

[SusanBAnthony]

At a year it would have just been mean. They have no clue what they did wrong, even a minute later. It is pretty much redirect and remove the temptation.