Time Outs?

I probably won’t until age 4-5 honestly. They don’t usually comprehend the concept of time out this young. They might figure it out after a while if it’s consistent throughout the day but the next day it’ll be like starting over. The concept of deductive reasoning doesn’t exist at this age. I can give my daughter a cup of water and she’ll pour it out because it’s cool looking, take away the cup and tell her “no no”. She’ll wag her finger and repeat no no. But you know what she’ll do 12 more times that day? Pour out the water. Even though every single time it gets taken away, even if she cries, even if I explain it she’s still going to do it. They just can’t help it.

What works for us is that when he throws his toys I let that happen 3 times than he looks at my face for a reaction that’s when I give him serious face not scary just serious and tell him to “ pick this up and give it to me now, this is a no no not good “ I usually have a very loving voice when I talk to him and smile on my face almost all the time so when he sees me serious that’s when he understands this is a real no no. But after he does what I ask him I make sure to tell him that “ yes this is good and that was bad “

I also tell him to say no no to the opening door, like I actually make him say no. After that we wait and watch and most of the times he goes to open the door again but stop himself and says no no no to the door and goes back to play.

What I do for my daughter is I patiently instruct her, then after the third time of not listening, I grab her to sit on my lap and tell her “We don’t have to (insert offense lol) if you want to do that, we can do (alternative) instead.” Honestly my baby’s really intelligent as well and once I do that she stops. Always. If on the rare occasion that doesn’t work, I’ll take the thing away and say “We can earn it back later”

I can't remember who it was, but I think it was my son's pediatrician who I asked. I heard some people do time outs at this age, and I was like what? How in the world does that work at this age? Because I don't think he understands... And she said that yes, I can start teaching time out. They usually recommend 1 minute per year of age of the child, but at this age of being a toddler, a lot of their "bad behavior" is just them trying to learn about the world around them, so only use it for things that are actually bad behavior like hitting or hurting another kid or person after they have already been told no and you've tried to explain things to them. For everything else, use the typical tactics of teaching them why "no" to what they are doing, taking the thing you want to stop away, and/or redirection. Teaching is still the most important at this age.

I've told him I can't be around him if he's throwing toys or when he does this super annoying scream so you need to be alone in your room. Right when I set him in his room he screams and cries and wants me so I say "okay. Then NO more throwing toys" It's worked

And it's more so throwing toys at me not just playing around in his area. He's looking for a reaction

Is he throwing toys out of frustration/anger or being silly? Currently my son is in a throwing stage where he thinks it's silly and funny. While we don't like it, we understand it's just a stage and don't put him in time out for it. We repeat he doesn't need to throw food/toys then we just don't give the item back to him.

We do time outs too - I ask her not to do x, and then if needed give her a time out for a minute and then i got to her in time out and I ask what did mummy say? And she repeats after me. And then a cuddle and we come out of time out.

I think it’s better to stay with him through his time out. Don’t shut him out. But stay present.