If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

DS has a real fresh streak in him lately and we've been giving him times outs like we have since about 16 months old. They dont work and he couldnt care less he is sitting there.

He spends the entire time, going "hahaha its funny" kicking the wall, then I go a place him back and he sticks his tongue out and blows raspberries at me.

Short of locking him in the closet , whats a mom to do????

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

I actually put DD in her crib still. She hates going in there unless its time for bed and she is practically asleep. This works like a charm.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

Positive reinforcement - something I use with Alex is a reward chart. For every instance of good behavior, she gets a star. When she accumulates enough stars, she picks out a new toy/treat.

When push comes to shove, if she's being just horrid, and timeouts aren't working, I hit her where it hurts - I take something away that's important to her and she can't have it back until she is good again (i.e. I've held her back from going to a friend's bday party, took the TV out of her room, took some of her favorite toys to the attic, no books at bedtime, etc.) - it's god awful and heart wrenching to do it, but if you are consistent and follow through on your threats, you will see a change in his behavior soon.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

Ignore him-I.e put him in the time out, don't talk to him, don't even look at him regardless of how he ups the ante.

Also, I take toys away, turn off the TV, threaten to take away book time, tell her no snack if she does it again.

I find it is hardest to reprimand at night because there is less to take away and to threaten to take away something the next day seems ineffective.

I want to incorporate a sticker chart for good behavior but at 2 I think she is a little young.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

It's hard, but I ignore some of DSs behavior (tantrums) if he isn't going to hurt anyone or anything. I try giving him timeouts, but he won't stay in the space, and he winds up getting wilder if I try to put him back in the timeout. I think it's better if he has time to get his anger out of his system, and I leave him alone for a bit. When he is calmer, I hold him and we talk a little. But I hear ya, sometimes I have wanted to put him in a closet, eventhough I know that would traumatize him!

Bad behavior generally seems to get nipped in the bud if I ignore it. He started doing these huge burps and laughing at one point, which I didn't mind so much at home, but he started doing it out, in other people's faces, so uh uh. So we started ignoring the burps and he stopped, well stopped doing huge ones anyway and drawing attention to them.

I don't have a sticker chart for good behavior, but that's a good idea. Today he did a really good job making transitions, getting in the car, going home, going in the house. So I told him I was very proud of him for doing a good job with these things. But a sticker might be fun.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

For those DC that NONE of that works (like DS for example... ), you just need to do your best, stay consistent, and wait it out. They do eventually grow out of that stage.

With DS, rewards meant nothing. Taking away his favorite *anything* meant nothing. We just stayed consistent, and still "punished" him, even though he didn't care. I think he realized that we weren't budging either, so he never got too out of control, and by staying consistent, as he grew out of that stage, the punishments and rewards slowly took on significance.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

Posted by eddiesmommy

DS has a real fresh streak in him lately and we've been giving him times outs like we have since about 16 months old. They dont work and he couldnt care less he is sitting there.

He spends the entire time, going "hahaha its funny" kicking the wall, then I go a place him back and he sticks his tongue out and blows raspberries at me.

Short of locking him in the closet , whats a mom to do????

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

i time out toys he's playing with or his fav toy.

Re: If time outs arent effective what else can I do?

Same here with Noah, we put him in his room now, it works better. He cannot see us.