We've always used a lot of time outs. "Go sit in the red chair!" was, until recently, a common command around here. Then I realized kids can have way too much fun in a chair. Somehow they'd end up hanging upside down over the back of the chair, entertaining themselves through time outs.
So recently, we've gone retro in our discipline.
Yep...my kids now stand in the corner. Just like I did as a kid. And it's clearly way more boring than the red chair.
The first day I started using the corner, Chickie decided to test my resolve. I set the timer on my phone for four minutes, and every time she talked to me, I reset it and required her to start over. I think her first "four minute" time out in the corner actually lasted around 20 minutes.
But here we are, a couple of weeks later, and I don't usually have to restart the timer for either kid. Best of all, it seems to work. Standing quietly in the corner for a few minutes usually bumps their attitudes back in line.
I don't subscribe to every form of "old fashioned" discipline. I'm not going to tell my kids to go get a switch from the tree outside for a spanking, like The Engineer had to do as a kid. (Our poor, young trees would soon be bare if I did that!) But standing in the corner...that's a retro practice that works for us.
4 comments:
I like this idea and I think I am going to give it a go with Ian.
I always thought sitting for a timeout was only half a step more effective than "go to your room." My room? With all of my books/toys/whatever? Standing in a corner is just dull dull dull. Nothing to look at, nothing to do but think. I like it!
That picture is priceless. I remember spending A LOT of time in corners as a kid. We had a popcorn ceiling, so I would stare at the ceiling to try and find shapes.
I had to do this in grade school in my 4th grade year. I was sent nearly every day after the first part of November, We had to stand in the corner facing the wall, with our hands behind our backs for at least 10 minutes. If we acted up in the corner we had an additional 2 minutes added to our time-out.
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