Time Outs

I had abandoned time outs for a while, hoping that positive reinforcement and ignoring bad behavior would be enough to keep Megan in line. But that doesn't seem to be 100% effective, so I've been trying to resurrect the practice. A few days ago she hit David in anger and I told her "no hitting! That's a time-out, go sit on your bed!" The last time I'd given her a time-out I'd had to carry her to her bed, so I was surprised when she stomped off without another word.

Yesterday she was angry with David again, and made menacing gestures. "That's 1," I told her. I got to 3, and told her "Time-out: go sit upstairs on your bed." I was surprised again when she started to head up. But then she said "But I can't go up the stairs!" David had put a gate there, since Cam has been climbing the stairs lately. David and I tried not to ruin the levity of the situation by laughing.