My answer is that the reason time-outs aren’t working for you is that time-outs don’t work.3 The main weakness of the “time-out” is that it doesn’t address the problem. Let’s say your son shoves his little sister away from his blocks, and you grab him by the shoulder and rush him to the time-out chair. What do you think he’ll be saying to himself as he sits in that chair? We’d like to imagine that he’s thinking, Gee, this chair time is helping me realize that I should show a lot more love and tenderness to my dear sister. After all, we do have shared genetic material. As the older child I
...more
