We use timeout. It seems corny, and my 19 year old self would have probably snickered at the thought of it; but it works for us ... sometimes. We use it mainly when one of the children can not get it together. Something has upset them and they are crying or screaming, seemingly uncontrollably. We also use it to curb whining. Typically they only need a minute or so, then they will calm down and rejoin our society of sane people.
We use the stairs for the timeout area. In our house the stairs to the second floor secludes the child from the rest of the downstairs. Tonight I renamed the timeout area from the staircase to the "Zane-case". It is like a second home for him. At minimum, he makes 6 trips to the stairs a day, typically just to calm down (for a description of Zane see The Zane-Meister).
Recently I gave a power to Zach that I may come to regret later. After throwing a little fit myself; in response to Zane doing who knows what, to who knows who, I told Zach that if he thinks that I need to calm down, he can send me to the stairs. Of course, as Zach found out on Thursday, I have veto power on his decision. He was so cute as he gingerly approached me and said, "Um ... Dad. Do you think maybe that this might be a time to uh ... you know ... (nod to the stairs)." I replied, "No Zachary, this is not a time for that." But about ten minutes later, where was I? In a self imposed timeout, on the stairs, trying to simmer down. I might be wrong, but I think I saw a small smirk come across Zach's face, as to say, "ha ... I knew you needed a timeout Dad."
Kids are so wise sometimes.
:)
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