Effectiveness of “Time-Out” as a “Punishment” for Children
“Time-out” is a disciplinary technique that has been used by parents for many generations. Time-out is one of many forms of punishment that King (2008) defines as a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur. I strongly agree with Zolten and Long (2006), the authors of “Time-Out as a Discipline Technique”, that time- out can be a very effective form of punishment in decreasing various problem behaviors seen in children if used appropriately and correctly. Behaviors such as hitting, temper tantrums, not following directions, back talking, doing something dangerous or something that could be potentially dangerous are appropriate circumstances in which the time-out …show more content…
Since I do not have kids, I asked my parents how they performed the time-out method when I was a kid, in which their answer consisted of having me sit in a chair, facing the wall and telling me to be quiet, not to move, and to think about why I am being punished. The time-out only lasted for a few minutes, if I behaved during the process. If I were to have talked, moved or continued misbehaving I would have stayed in time-out longer until I did the time out correctly, thus shows my parents effectively performing acts of reinforcement. In this case, it is called negative reinforcement which King (2008) defines as the frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed by the removal of something undesirable. Basically, hoping my good behavior would increase to avoid the undesirable punishment of a time-out with a slight chance I would never have to endure time-outs again. To me this sounds like the typical way to give a child a time-out and I would probably perform it the same way when the day comes that I have a kid of my own. I have provided the link to the handout/pdf document written by Zolten and Long (2006) below. Feel free to read it and compare their time-out procedures to your own, I am very curious to hear others opinions on this subject. I also found this handout very simple and informative. Compared to the article and my parent’s method the procedures are almost
“Time-out” is a disciplinary technique that has been used by parents for many generations. Time-out is one of many forms of punishment that King (2008) defines as a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur. I strongly agree with Zolten and Long (2006), the authors of “Time-Out as a Discipline Technique”, that time- out can be a very effective form of punishment in decreasing various problem behaviors seen in children if used appropriately and correctly. Behaviors such as hitting, temper tantrums, not following directions, back talking, doing something dangerous or something that could be potentially dangerous are appropriate circumstances in which the time-out …show more content…
Since I do not have kids, I asked my parents how they performed the time-out method when I was a kid, in which their answer consisted of having me sit in a chair, facing the wall and telling me to be quiet, not to move, and to think about why I am being punished. The time-out only lasted for a few minutes, if I behaved during the process. If I were to have talked, moved or continued misbehaving I would have stayed in time-out longer until I did the time out correctly, thus shows my parents effectively performing acts of reinforcement. In this case, it is called negative reinforcement which King (2008) defines as the frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed by the removal of something undesirable. Basically, hoping my good behavior would increase to avoid the undesirable punishment of a time-out with a slight chance I would never have to endure time-outs again. To me this sounds like the typical way to give a child a time-out and I would probably perform it the same way when the day comes that I have a kid of my own. I have provided the link to the handout/pdf document written by Zolten and Long (2006) below. Feel free to read it and compare their time-out procedures to your own, I am very curious to hear others opinions on this subject. I also found this handout very simple and informative. Compared to the article and my parent’s method the procedures are almost