Then be consistent about using timeouts when the behavior occurs, every time. Make clear to your child before misbehavior which behaviors will lead to a timeout and what the timeout will be. Administered without repeated warnings.Administered calmly, not in anger or as an act of vengeance, but as an expected response to the behavior.Research shows that any form of attention, positive or negative, tends to increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring again (Kazdin, 2013). Attention is reinforcement because it increases the probability of the behavior it follows. The key is to remove as many sources of reinforcement as possible. You can ignore your child for a brief period (where she otherwise might receive attention) or have her sit in a corner of a room (where it still might be reinforcing to see others). Done in isolation from interaction with others.A timeout should follow the behavior that made the timeout necessary as soon as possible. Extra time may satisfy your sense of justice, but it does nothing to change the behavior. Research shows that timeouts’ positive effect on behavior is within the first one or two minutes (Kazdin, 2013). If you give more than one or two each day for the same behavior, that is too much. They are only one technique in a discipline plan, so don’t over-rely on them. So, how can you use timeouts effectively? To be clear, timeouts are only a tool you can use to control the problem behavior while you work on replacing it with a desired behavior – the true objective of any form of discipline. Those require additional steps, which are all part of an overall discipline plan. It does not stop the behavior in the future, and it does not teach the desired behavior.
So, to stop the behavior, create a brief break in all types of attention – demands, threats, explanations, rewards, hugs – everything. The timeout technique follows a simple logic. Decades of research demonstrate the effectiveness of timeouts (Kazdin, 2013). When used correctly, timeouts are highly effective for achieving this goal. The goal of a timeout, or of any disciplinary tool, is to improve your child’s behavior. But, perhaps surprisingly, this is all many parents know about timeouts. Your child does something wrong, you send her to sit by herself for some set period of time. Everyone has heard of timeouts, and they seem simple to use. Timeouts are a disciplinary tool that is widely misunderstood and frequently misused. Fasig Caldwell, JD, PhD (Director, APA Children, Youth, and Families Office) Kazdin, PhD (Director, Yale Parenting Center) & Lauren G.
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