Hellobee Boards

I know they often don't seem like they work - but I do believe consistency is important and even if it doesn't seem to work now, it sets the groundwork for letting them know we won't give in when they act out. Just this morning we had three timeouts for the exact. same. thing. He needs to know the boundaries.

We just keep putting him back in time out over and over until he stays. He gets mad, and upset, of course, but we stay firm. After timeout is over, we talk about why he was in timeout and ask that he apologize.

LO doesn't usually try to leave, but on the rare occasions when he does try to get up, we'll pick him up and put him back as many times as necessary. We won't sit with him or talk to him unless it's to say that there will be no leaving time out until he can calm down and sit quietly for a minute. We'll move toys out of reach and if he moves to reach for them, we'll pick him up and replace him. (Then once he's been more or less calm and quiet for a minute we'll do what Mrs. Pen said and talk about why he was in timeout, how he felt, how he could have handled the situation differently, etc. and then he apologizes and we hug and we're done). Everyone's kid is different, but there have been a couple of times when we've had to prove to DS that we can and will outlast him. It's really important to us that we never cave- we try to choose battles carefully, but once we've picked a battle, we're in it till the end! LO usually doesn't push that, but there's been once or twice that we've had a marathon time out session or had LO sit at the table for 30 minutes before he takes his one required "no thank you bite" of everything on his plate.