How long of a time out do you give your child?

My timeouts depend on what they have said or done to diserve the punishment. It can sometimes be 5 minutes or 10 minutes. The longest I have had any one of my two boys on a time out was for 20 minutes and it was because they were fighting with eachother. They have been receiving timeouts as a form of punishment for a long time so when I say "you do that again it will be 5..10..15 minutes on timeout. Another form of punishment I use sometimes is since my oldest is a very talkative child, I say to him...no talking time out for 5 minutes. It hits him hard because he likes to talk so much but it works to calm him down.

Our time outs vary - sometimes, when they are really really upset, crying and screaming - they are in time out until they have calmed down enough for me to talk to them about whatever it is they did. I feel a child under the age of 18 months is too young for a time out - too old would probably be 8 or so, although in certain situations a time out would still be appropriate at that age as well. A general rule of thumb is the minutes in time out should be the age of a child - a three year old would have a three minute time out, for example. I do this when they've misbehaved but are relatively calm. My son has a problem with hitting, so every time he hits and I find out about it, he must do a time out. It has certainly lessened the hitting! Different children respond to different things - but whatever form of time out you use, you need to make sure that you're also communicating to your child what he did wrong.

Time outs are great. I tell the kid, (none of my own, but have taken care of kids) to go sit quietly while I get over being disappointed at them acting up (and to cool down if mad). I use this opportunity to think of what to say as we always will have a discussion about the time out. How long the time out lasts depends on how fast the kid catches on to why I gave him a time out and whether he convinces me he won't need another soon.

That's easy. They get 1 min. per year of their age. I didn't even know how easy it was until my children were all grown and started watching the Super Nanny a few years ago. Now I use it with the grandchildren. It works great and I set a timer. Lol, just the first warning of the word "timeout" brings them to attention. Once all I said was "You are going in timeout if you don't stop" and my grandson who is 3 hung his head and walked over and sat in the timeout chair.

well with a 15 an 13 year old they laugh at time out now but it was usally 5 minutes now i take the phone or thier computer away wich works for me seeing so far so good they don't get into much trouble

In our house time out was not based on time but rather behavior while in time out. Time out was used as a time to get control, once they calmed down they were allowed to get up.

Time outs must be adjusted to the issue that needs to be punished, and who is being punished. I think age has to be involved in the decision making for the punishment. Standing over there in the corner for a teenager just does not make any sense. I would rather take away something, like a toy or a privilege than messing around with standing in the corner.

I used to work as a child care worker and we had a set way to determine how long to have a child stay in timeout. Of course you have to decide if the length of time should be longer or shorter. Guidelines For Using Time Out With Children and Preteens Purpose of Time Out Time-out means time out from positive reinforcement (rewarding experiences). It is a procedure used to decrease undesirable behaviors. The main principle of this procedure is to ensure that the individual in time-out is not able to receive any reinforcement for a particular period of time. How to Use Time Out Effectively: Time Out Area The time-out area should be easily accessible, and in such a location that the child can be easily monitored while in time-out. For example, if most activity takes place on the first floor of the house, the time-out area should not be on an upper floor. A chair in the corner of the dining room is an excellent spot. Placing a kitchen timer on the table is a good way to keep the child informed of how much time he has left to serve. Amount of Time Spent in Time Out Generally, it is considered more effective to have short periods of time-out, 5 to 10 minutes, rather than to have long periods, such as half an hour to an hour. Children can fairly quickly begin to use their imagination to turn a boring activity into an interesting one. Children from 2 - 5 years old should receive a 2 to 5 minute time-out. A 6 year old child should probably receive about a 5 minute time-out while a 10 year old child would receive a 10 minute time-out. A general guideline can be: 6-8 years of age, 5 minutes; 8-10 years of age, 10 minutes; 10-14 years of age, 10 to 20 minutes. Some double the time-out period for such offenses as hitting, severe temper tantrums, and destruction of property. (Note: ADHD children may benefit from shorter times than those suggested above). Specifying Target Behaviors It is very important the child be aware of the behaviors that are targeted for reduction. They should be very concretely defined: for example, hitting means striking someone else’s with the hand or an object, or coming home late means arriving home any time after 5:00 p.m. I also put the link where I went to that my instructor had given to me when I was working at the child care center. It is a good way to determine how long a time out should be. http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/parenting/timeout.shtml