<p>This article is in the LA Times. My question is what’s the difference between a timeout in a bedroom vs. a timeout in a closet?
[Mother</a> locked girl in closet for 6 hours over bad grades - latimes.com](<a href=“Archive blogs”>Archive blogs)</p>
<p>My question is what’s the difference between a timeout in a bedroom vs. a timeout in a closet?</p>
<p>You are seriously asking this question?</p>
<p>6 hours locked in a closet after being hit with a stick a few times—you don’t see a problem with it?</p>
<p><a href=“Deaths Put Focus on Pastor’s Advocacy of Spanking - The New York Times”>Deaths Put Focus on Pastor’s Advocacy of Spanking - The New York Times;
<p>How about this story from a few days ago? A preacher’s discipline teachings has caused the death of three children.</p>
<p>I don’t think the closet and room time out are comparable, but I don’t think a time out helps anyone but the parent.</p>
<p>
Well, sort of. An equally accurate statement would be that the failure of those parents to fully follow the preacher’s teachings caused the death of three children.</p>
<p>Time outs worked with my daughters when they were young. The only reason they worked for us, and did not work for many of our friends, is that they were consistent and we never wavered.
Kids want to know where the line is CONSISTENTALY. Times outs work for the kids. How do I know…the number of time outs went way down and I have 2 perfectly adjusted very respectful daughters</p>
<p>Another equally accurate statement would be that no child rearing professional recommends any type of corporal punishment - any type of hitting, spanking, etc. - and that is what the preacher in the link was teaching.</p>
<p>Similar to the teachings of James Dobson, who was in vogue for a while, and also discredited. He still may be popular among certain religions.</p>
<p>Also of interest in the above article (since this is an education website) was the quote that home schoolers are big followers of the preacher and his teachings.</p>
<p>Yes, of course beating with a stick is bad. But what about those kids out there just having time-outs in a bedroom vs. in a closet? The difference would be a bedroom may have toys, games, computer, phone, or T.V., etc. in it, and a closet will not.</p>
<p>The difference would be a bedroom may have toys, games, computer, phone, or T.V., etc. in it, and a closet will not.</p>
<p>I put my kids in a box- we had stove sized box ( open) in the living room & if they were having a hard time, I had them stand or sit in the box and they could swear, yell, scream, thrash around for as long as they wanted.</p>
<p>I also occasionally would lock myself in the bathroom & have my own time out.
;)</p>
<p>What about it? Duh, you forbid the kid to play with games, watch TV, use computer, etc. during the time-out. You don’t lock someone in a closet. What is wrong with you that you don’t see the difference?</p>
<p>Though time-out, to me, is a discipline method used for smaller children, not high schoolers.</p>
<p>I wonder if the mother put the girl in the closet with her school books and a lamp. Otherwise, she prevented her from working on improving her grades.</p>
<p>If a child is getting bad grades, it is the parent’s job to figure out why and fix it.</p>
<p>This is terrible and the mom is mentally ill and abusive.</p>
<p>…And yet the US government still doesn’t understand that solitary confinement constitutes torture.</p>
<p>I would appreciate governmental interference more if the standards of ethical behavior the government was upholding were applied by it consistently throughout society.</p>
<p>Closet- small, confined, dark, uncomfortable, scary, isolated
Bedroom-familiar, not scary, has light, can still be isolated, but not really “confined”</p>
<p>We used timeout’s when son was young, but in a place where he could see us and we could see him, on a chair. By the time he was about 7 or 8, time out lost it’s effectiveness. On the rare occasion we needed some sort of discipline, we would usually take something away for a period of time. Like a gameboy, bike priveledges, or computer. I could never imagine putting him in a closet for even 10 minutes, much less 6 hours.</p>
<p>We punished our children by making them stay with us.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the closet. Small dark and musty could be child abuse. Some closets have furniture, music and are well-lit. The hitting with a stick part I don’t like.</p>
<p>Any opinions for mother locked girl in a closet for bad grades?</p>
<p>My opinion is that we get to lock the mom into a closet for bad parenting.</p>
<p>“What about it? Duh, you forbid the kid to play with games, watch TV, use computer, etc. during the time-out. You don’t lock someone in a closet. What is wrong with you that you don’t see the difference?”</p>
<p>LOL. I see the difference in the size of the room, such as a broom closet or walk-in size closet where someone can still move around. I doubt that any parent can possibly fit a school age child in a standard-size closet, especially with clothes, shoes, or whatever else in it. Regardless of the size of the room, I think a better way to discipline would be to take privileges away instead, but I guess everyone has their own method.</p>
<p>That preacher says it right to hit a one year old baby with a stick. A weapon. And that the older the kid the bigger the weapon be. If I walked down the street and hit someone with a stick ornrodnor ruler i woud be arrested, but hit a baby with the same stick and chase the bible says so.</p>
<p>Most people don’t understand the origins of the concept of a “time-out”. It’s supposed to mean time out from positive reinforcement, and it depends on having a positive relationship with the child. ( see Hunt’s post!) There is way more to it than the often “dumbed down” version.</p>
<p>“Another equally accurate statement would be that no child rearing professional recommends any type of corporal punishment - any type of hitting, spanking, etc.”</p>
<p>I don’t know if that is true. I can remember one program in which a swat was used in combination with a return to time out if the child got up. </p>
<p>For most kids I see, the important piece to remember is that NEGATIVE consequences should be a very small part of the whole behavioral intervention.</p>