Babble

Whenever my 2 year old daughter hits her baby sister at home, she knows that she would have to sit on the naughty chair, as advised by Supernanny (which I think is actually quite useful).  However, when we are outside, I am hesitant to use my stroller as a "naughty chair."  I have heard that a crib should not be used for time outs because the child may develop a negative association with the crib and think that sleeping is punishment.  Similarly, I don't want the stroller to be considered a place of punishment. As it is, my daughter does not always want to sit in the stroller. Any suggestions?  I would like to have her sit on a park bench for time out, but then, will she get confused if she is not always on the same park bench? 

What would you do?

We have a naughty chair at home, outside we take a time out, whenever or where ever it's necessary. My son knows that if I start counting to three, he's very likely to get a time out. So he usually stops the naughty behavior before I get to three. That said, we've had time outs on sidewalks, in the library, at the drugstore....just to name a few of our more colorful locations.

I think the naughty place can move where you go, it's a concept that they get, not necessarily the location. (Though I do agree, that the naughty space at home should not be the bed or the child's room, there definitely is a bad association there, my guess is that the stroller would also create a bad association.)

 I love the supernanny too, but personally never found it practical in public spaces like a playground/store, etc. I've just removed from center of action off to quiet place (whether its the ground away from the commotion or park bench) and dealt with it a little off site. That usually will do the trick. Also have them face away from the action, so they're not distracted by what their friends may be doing instead of listening to you, etc. Good luck!!!

I'm not terribly worried about tantrums at a playground. Usually my son is too busy playing to act out, and a little screaming or whatever outside seems normal behavior to me. If he does something rotten that disturbs others, like throwing sand at another kid or pushing, then I warn him once and we leave immediately if he does it again.

Timeouts are kind of a joke for us--he'll just nod "yes, I want one" so I prefer that the consequences of bad behavior be linked to his actions--leave a playground if acting out, lose a toy for the day if he hits someone with it, etc.

I either ignore it or if it gets out of hand, I have him sit somewhere until he calms down.  

I'm a Supernanny acolyte too and find the naughty chair useful at home where the pleading and hollering can only be heard by family members. In public situations if one of my kids has a meltdown I give them a warning to cut it out but if they persist I just remove them from the scene and go home. The other day I carried my furiously protesting 2 year-old son home from the library (two blocks).
I don't think it's reasonable to allow your children to detract from the quiet enjoyment of others in a public place.

We do the quick removal too -- a warning and then we leave. Works wonder, especially for driving home cause and effect.

The naughty spot outside our home is not for meltdown situations, it's for situations when our little one is misbehaving and needs a moment. For example, at the library, our child was running in circles and pulling books off shelves. We had him sit in the naughty spot until he was ready to apologize to the librarian (the woman behind the checkout counter) for pulling books down and then we went on with our day, first picking out some books and then checking them out to bring home.