If you use time-outs as a punishment technique for your child’s bad behavior, then you are not alone. It is a highly popularized “convenience parenting” technique, and appears to work well in the short term. If you watch any American TV, then you’ll see this concept promoted by “SuperNanny” or “Jon and Kate Plus 8″. The reality is that using time-outs can be harmful not only to you and your child’s relationship, but also to their personal development, self-esteem, and their ability to generally think for themselves. It separates the behaviour from the moment, treats only the symptoms and not the root cause, and puts your relationship in the back seat. Leading child development psychologists agree that the last thing you want to do is …

Young children under the age of 3 to 4 years old live in the present.  Although they are often brought together in playgroups, they simply are not capable of more advanced adult-like interactions like “socializing” or playing together (they actually “parallel” play). Their left brain (rational/analytical/language skills) and right brain (creative/emotional) are not yet fully talking to each other (via the corpus callosum), and their behaviour is in fact governed mostly from their right brain hemisphere. Kids are emotional creatures, and many parents try to be rational with them using adult concepts to drive their behaviour.
One parenting technique is the use of consequences for managing behaviour. “If you hit your brother again, then you won’t get a popsicle”. The reality is that a …