many report that the kids—even some wild ones!—sit still on them,
don’t talk, and don’t keep getting off. As a matter of fact, parents are
often very creative in coming up with places for time-outs.
What if the child won’t stay in his room?
Many kids will stay in the room for the time-out, even if the door
isn’t shut. Others, however, will keep coming out. With very small
children, one alternative is to just stand there blocking the way or to
hold the door shut. After a few time-outs the kids get the idea that
they can’t come out. This tactic won’t work, however, if you keep
getting into major tugs of war with the door. If your discipline comes
down to this level, you look stupid.
A second alternative is to block the child’s exit with the kind of
gate that squeezes against the doorjambs. These gates can be used as
long as the children are not able to either climb over or knock down
the device. Yet another option is to start the time-out over if the child
comes out prematurely. Some parents will then double the time of the
second rest period. This method, of course, won’t be much help with
two- or three-year-olds because they won’t understand, but with older
children it can work well. Explain once and then start.
Some kids, however, are so rambunctious that they just keep
coming out and accumulate what seem like thousands of extra time-
out minutes. What should you do? You need to secure the door in
some way or another. There are several options.
Believe it or not, some parents of difficult children have made the
child’s bedroom door into a “Dutch” door. They saw the door in half,
then lock the bottom part and leave the top part open during the time-
out. You may think that’s a fairly drastic solution. It is, but some kids
require drastic (but gentle) solutions.
Also available are plastic doorknob covers. These devices cover
the knob and have to be squeezed tightly to turn the knob and open the
door. Many young children aren’t strong enough to accomplish this.