I think probably everyone that has children knows what the naughty step is. Some people also call it timeout.
I first heard about it from the Supernanny TV series. It’s funny really, because both my husband and I thought that smacking was a good way to discipline children. This was before we watched Supernanny on TV. Seeing is believing – that she could turn these kids around, and without smacks.
Luckily, we watched the series before we had kids. And so we were determined to use the naughty step as soon as the naughtiness started. Which was around 18 months 😉
In the beginning Miss Z didn’t really understand what the naughty step was. But she quickly understood the repetition of it. I did something, now I have to sit here for 1 minute. If I move, the time starts again, and at the end Mommy says some things and I have to say sorry.
Of course, it evolved as she grew. Each year of age means an extra minute. I always gave her a warning to stop the behaviour and told her that next time she would go to the naughty step. When I took her there, I always re-iterated why I was putting her there and telling her to think about what she had done. And at the end of the time (timed normally by the microwave clock), I would say it again and she needed to say sorry.
There were times when she would go to the naughty step several times is quick succession. But in the end she would give up and stop the behaviour.
There were times when she was in the naughty step in the aisle of the supermarket or in the middle of the park. Or even one time I stopped the car and she was in the naughty step on the side of the road.
Consistency is key with these things, and Miss Z was a lovely well behaved child most of the time, because, basically she *hated* going to the naughty step.
The naughty step doesn’t work forever though. She is now 5½ and all of a sudden we were faced with a little angry ball. Other measures were needed and it hasn’t always gone well.
We even tried smacking for a while – as things were getting so much out of control – but we are still firm believers that smacking doesn’t work, and we can see that it has just made her more angry and aggressive.
And so we’re trying new ways of dealing with bad behaviour… more to talk about in another post.