As I have previously written, I have a very passionate child. (Read more about that here.) So, needless to say, discipline is a continually evolving process for us. Lately, we have been attempting to set the stage for success by doing a lot more conversation regarding behavioral expectations prior to it becoming an issue. Time out doesn’t generally phase my youngest child, but we still do it because there needs to be a consequence to certain behaviors. With the help of my friend Pinterest, I implemented two new time-out tricks to see if they have any positive impact on our spirited little pixie. We only recently started these so the jury is still out on the long term impact that they will have, but for now they seem to have captured her interest.
Calm Down Bottles
I used this post from Pinterest to make mine. The general idea is that you shake the bottle up and watch the pretty swirls and sparkles until it settles, at which point time out is over and (ideally) you have calmed down. What I have found is that the overall impact of time out has not necessarily changed for us, but she is much quieter while sitting. Prior to the bottle, time out would consist of a string of complaints from my daughter.
“Can I get up now?”
“I have to go potty!”
“You can’t put people in time out!”
“Daddy is going to be mad at you!”
“I am not going to snuggle you EVER AGAIN!”
You get the picture.
Now though, she actually watches the sparkles settle and tells me when it is almost done so she can get up. She is responding (so far) to the concreteness of it.
Cool Down Cubes
This was another Pinterest inspired idea, which I adapted from here. The one I discovered is geared more towards older kids who can read and potentially come up with their own ideas for things to help them take a break when needed. I like this because that means that it can grow as my daughter grows. For now though, I kept it very simple. All you need are some plastic ice cubes (I got mine from Amazon) and a container to put them in. Then use a sharpie to write your cool down suggestions directly on the cubes. Our suggestions include: reading a story, counting to 20, singing a song, blowing bubbles, hugging a stuffed animal, punching a pillow, etc… We don’t use this activity for time out, but instead for those days that she is really struggling in general, for whatever reason. It helps give her (and me) a break from the emotions. I sometimes even do them with her.
