18 Month Old Corner or No

I gave my daughter time outs starting around 18 months. As soon as she was old enough and understood to sit there for a minute and a half I started.

Of course you should not put a baby in the corner.

Helping children that young not to bite and hit means you, the older, more capable person, must prevent the biting and hitting. Make sure he's not hungry, tired, frustrated. Stay with him, play with him, so that when you sense these things coming on, you can change things up before the biting or hitting. Get a snack, switch toys, go look out the window, sing a song.

Helping him learn sign language can be useful, too. If he bites or hits b/c he can't make you understand what he wants--a few signs can really help. Show him signs for milk, food, diaper, outside, more, whatever he likes. If he is trying to tell you something, and you can't figure it out, say Show me, and let him point while you carry him around till you figure out what he's trying to get at.

My 2 year old tried her first attempt at biting a few weeks ago.We handled it the same way we handled it with any 1st attempts at aggression in all of our kids and it worked immediately with all 3 who have always been completely trust worthy to not hit, kick, push, bite other kids in any setting:

I heard the blood curdling scream from my 3 year old son-the REAL HURT scream- and raced in to find him choking and gagging in pain with a black finger tip and a huge dent in his knuckle where my 2 year old's teeth had dug in hard. He was literally hyperventilating (this is a laid back kid) and screaming in terror when she moved toward him to see his finger, he was so scared. He was choking "NOOOO GO AWAAAAAYYY!!!!" at her and "She-e-e-e bittttt meeeeee" to me.

My 2 year old was standing like a dear in headlights shocked at his reaction. In all fairness, she didn't know what she did, since she's never been bitten. My oldest's first and only bite (at 18 months) was to me, and my 3 year old's first and only bite (at 18 months) was to his older sister, and my 2 year old was just taking her turn at learning finally.

I went to her in the calmest, most serious voice I own. Not angry at her, because she didn't know better, and I wasn't angry. I got down eye level and said clearly and slowly with eye contact, "You do NOT bite" and pointed at his finger. She knew from the extremely serious tone (not used since she learned not to hit a few months before) that this was SERIOUS and started saying, "Sorry" in SINCERE apology. Nevertheless, she got a good sting to the bottom, reserved only for extremely serious offenses-aggression being one of them.

She cried like her heart was completely broken, and when she calmed down, in my STILL calm and teaching voice, I said, "that hurts, you do not bite, say sorry". She went up and hugged her brother (he was still scared of her and I had to coax him to let her). Then I hugged and comforted her and explained for the 3rd time, never to bite. They were playing together 5 minutes later like nothing had happened. I made sure to play with her one on one, cuddle her and read her a book soon after, so she knew that everything was OK again.

She has not, and will not, bite again. If she did, the exact same result would happen, and she knows that, so she won't. We had a friend visiting the last couple of days, biting her dolly, and she said, "NO! No biting!"

Could I have skipped the swat since she was visibly "sorry" (in 2 year olds that translates to, "uh oh, I'm in trouble" not, "I'm regretting the discomfort I caused someone else") and waited to see if she ever did it AGAIN before using discipline? Maybe, but it's not worth the risk of one more attempt. The next time could have been to someone else's child. Aggression is simply not tolerated and the habit never formed in any of our kids, nor in my brother or I raised the same way, nor in our 30+ cousins who treat aggression the same way in toddlers.

For people philosophically opposed, fine. But for anyone saying it's paradoxical and confusing to use physical discipline for aggression: Nope. My non spanked friends kids all hit and bit for many months, and some for years.

I would personally never do something as light as a corner or time out for hitting or biting, because it would continue.

When we did TO at that young, we sat with him on our lap, facing away, with arms crossed over his ala bear-hug. I counted 90 secs quietly then would turn him to face me.

"E, you're in time out bc you hit mommy. We don't hit. It hurts and it's not nice. Say sorry to mommy, please"

After he would apologize, we do hugs and kisses.

He may be too young to say the word sorry, but we went through the routine anyway.

I think he's too young to be in time out alone - my son would have never stayed put anyway.

I put my daughter in a time out on the couch. You might try that at this age.....

I'm trying to figure this out myself since I have a 21 month old. I simply put my daughter away from me for a short period of time or make her sit in an area where I can be seen for a small "break" as "punishment" for hitting or biting. I'm alos trying to figure this one out.
A.

Ok, see my answer for your other question! The Happiest Toddler On the Block is also good for handling this type of behavior.

I would suggest waiting until 2 to do a formal time out (by themselves). They need to understand what it means to sit in that spot for x number of minutes. I am not sure at 18 months they would be ready. I would suggest a stool or a rug though and not the corner. Time outs tend to work best when they can visually see what they are missing out on. At least in my house thats the case.

He wont know why he's there. wont connect it with his misbehavior why waste your time? A very firm NO we do NOT... ..... facial expressions and voice tone are more important at this age.
My son's Preschool never used time out. they re directed and supervised and prevented problems.

Kind of depends on the child. My 3 year old would NEVER face the corner OR sit on a time out chair,stool, step nothing! Temperment has alot to do with it.
But you should absolutely be disciplining him/her. With my older on and now even with my almost one year old, they get time outs. The baby is put in his pack n play, or in the crib in his room. For things like pulling pictures off the shelf, climbing the stairs, hitting the dogs or us etc. He may not "get it" yet, but you must start early because they do understand alot more then we think they do.
The three year old gets put in his room, because again he will not sit or stand, and I will not physically restrain him.
I recommend it this book alot, but I love it "Parenting with love and logic. Birth to six years" Check it out!

Corner, no. Modified time-out? Maybe.

While I do agree with Nina on everything she said, I have also heard from pre-school teachers who swear by short time-outs for children 18mo-2 years age range. I would highly suggest following Nina's advice, then if all else fails, try a short time-out, accompanied by a firm "no!", to see if it works for him. (not in the corner, but someplace else, perhaps a pack n play, etc). Good luck!

I'd out him in time out or on a chair & say no, but just to get him out of the situation, not really expect him to stay there a long period of time.

so yes, but not for very long

i put my children in a highchair so that way i know they wont move

Yep. We started time outs at one year of age, but we would sit behind them and hold them in our laps as a restraint. Around 18 months we had a time out rug (just a little floor mat) and they sit on that for time out. The rule is one minute per year of age, so your son should get one minute of time out. Check out 1, 2, 3 Magic. It's a good book for discipline. Yes, children at this age can understand why they're in trouble. They learn very early how to push buttons.