I have never understood the concept of a time out. What's the difference between a time out and doing nothing?
Haven't read all the replies here, but fwiw, time outs do work for some kids (most likely not in this situation). They worked really well for two of my kids because while they were in time out "doing nothing" they weren't free to do what they *wanted* to be doing, plus they knew they were getting a consequence, and both of the kids it worked for shared the combined personality trait of caring about doing what they were supposed to do plus having enough control over their emotions that they could sit, regroup and move on.
My 3rd child has a personality is more self-centered (I don't mean that in a bad way, but she's less naturally focused on how other people interpret her behavior), and in addition to that trait, once she's upset past a certain point, she can't pull it back together. For her, timeouts mean nothing, and the only way to deal with meltdowns etc is to ignore her (from a distance and with ear plugs on), and then when she's calm talk through what happened.
polarbear
