should always start counting when your child attacks and save your
energy for true discussions.
Sharing Spaces
What if the kids have a fight and they share the same room? It would
not be a good idea to send two fighting children to the same time-out
place to continue their fight. Send one to his room and the other to an
alternate time-out room or place. Then for the next rest period reverse
the locations. Or use time-out alternatives when both children fight. If
your kids have separate bedrooms and they fight on the way to their
rest periods, extend the time-outs by five or ten minutes.
Temper Tantrums
Tantrums can be counted or ignored. You might choose to ignore your
two-year-old thrashing around on the living room floor after you
refused to give him your entire milk shake. You can even leave the
room if you think the child will be safe. But you might want to count
your ten-year-old’s verbal abuse after you wouldn’t let him have a
friend over.
In either case, there is a basic rule about dealing with fits of
temper: never talk or argue with a tantruming child. That’s the same
as pouring gasoline on a fire. Counting is OK because it’s a signal
rather than a conversation.
So let’s say you chose to time-out your six-year-old son for
tantruming. He’s now in his room and he’s still having a fit. What if