I both agree and disagree with the man in the video. He states that the original idea of timeouts was thought to be a better alternative to spanking, which I agree with. He then goes on to say that this thought is not entirely accurate. He speaks of timeouts as sending a child to their room as a form of punishment. I agree that this is not the best form of punishment; a child should not be sent to their room for long periods of time as a punishment. I say this because 1) a child is supposed to feel safe, secure and comfortable in their room, if it is used as a form of punishment that security will not be there. 2) If there is more than one child in a family and they share a room, it is impossible to send one to their room. It keeps the other child out and if that is where all their things are, what are they supposed to do. 3) If the children have all their toys in the room, they will play with them. how is that punishment? 4) They could fall asleep, thus the child will not know how much time they spent in their room, or what they missed out on because they were asleep. Most parents I know have a specific area for time out; a corner, stool, or chair. In our home we have a small stool that we put in a corner and that is the time-out stool. The children are still out where they can see and hear others, they are not completely alone. They can also see the other people in the home having fun, watching TV, playing, or whatever. This helps them realize that getting in trouble made them miss out on something fun. I agree that a child acts more affectionate after being in time out, I get it every time from both boys. I can see how time-outs could cause separation anxiety in children. But if we cannot spank, because that’s bad, and we cannot put them in time-out, because that’s harmful, what do we do? Taking away toys, TV, video games, or whatever does not always work. I have seen time-outs work and not work. I have also seen children that are put in time out so frequently that they start to act differently. One particular child really stands out in my thoughts. He was a bright, happy and sweet kid, always affectionate. Well his mother started working and the father would watch him. Within two weeks of the mom starting her new job I noticed a change in the boy. He had become less affectionate, more withdrawn and barely smiled. At first I thought it was because the mom was not there all the time, but even when she came home he would not cheer up. I went to visit with the family and that is when I figured out what was happening. Before mom started working she was always the main disciplinary, she did not always put him in time out, she would talk to him and explain why he was in trouble and take something he valued away. The father wasn’t very good with discipline, but he was a great daddy. Whenever the boy would get in trouble the father would raise his voice then send the boy to the corner for very long periods of time. During this 4 hour visit the boy was put in the corner 5 times, I literally only got to spend 30 minutes total with him. The father’s idea of time out was to have the boy sit in the hallway, away from everyone, with very little to no light. The mother’s idea of timeout was in a corner in whatever room she happened to be in. The boy was not allowed to talk in either case, but the mom would talk to him about what he had done and constantly repeat that she loved him while explaining that whatever he did was wrong. Parents: What do you think? I am curious of other parents opinions and what works best for them.