Time-Ins or Time-Outs – What Should Be Your Preferred Way of Disciplining Kids?

posted on Mar 30, 2022

“My lovely kiddie! First of all, take a deep breath and tell me what the dilemma is. I am all ears to you!” – Parent A to his child A

“Listen kid! Just spend a few minutes with yourself alone in your room, and you will reach a solution to this dilemma yourself.” – Parent B to his child B

Here we observed two entirely contrasting parenting styles adopted by the two sets of parents. Though we, at Gurukul The School, recognized among the best school in Ghaziabad, believe in not judging our valued parents according to their parenting style or ways utilized for disciplining their kids, we do wish to assist them in this roller coaster ride of theirs by sharing a few pros and cons associated with the two methods cited above. Method A is termed ‘Time-in’ while strategy B is called the ‘Time-out’ method. Read on further to comprehend more about the two methods.

The plusses of choosing the ‘Time-in’ way of disciplining:

When kids keep standing by their kids’ side in any complicated circumstances, kids feel no more deserted, embarrassed, or panicked, and are thus in a better position to fight off the situation.
Children get the notion that they are being heard and their requirements are being genuinely examined.
Both children and parents get a chance to discuss the problem at hand.
Stronger personal bonds are developed between both parties.
They being a part of the issue at hand, parents deem the situation to be under their control.
There remains no scope for what we know as a power struggle.
And finally, kids end up being satisfied souls because they are able to discern a range of emotions they go through.

Disadvantages of the time-in method:

Time-ins require pre-plannings, like sharing and approving of time-ins by the other spouse in advance or where and how to hold the other kids in the house busy and occupied, which, if not given heed to, results in a mental mess for everyone involved.
Time-ins succeed only when a constant location or a place is designated for them. And thus, it fails when you and your family are not at the same place or are at a new place temporarily.
Experts are of the opinion that a parent can make use of a time-in only when he is absolutely calm and at peace.

Let’s now divert our attention towards the advantages of the Time-out strategy:

Time-outs give both parties involved enough space to loosen up and slow down until they once again start behaving rationally.
They are termed beneficial for teaching vital life skills to the kids like problem-solving, learning from their own mistakes, making amends in their behavior, etc.
The children get to know that before reacting to any crisis in life, one needs to be calm and think clearly.
Time-outs motivate the kids to shape optimistic assumptions about themselves and their personalities.
Kids feel authorized and entrusted when the time-out works.

Drawbacks of Time-outs:

It might end up making the kids feel even worse.
It can give rise to demoralizing notions in a child about himself.
Sometimes these beliefs further fuel the wish for vengeance or revolt in the kids.

At Gurukul The School, we truly acknowledge the uniqueness of children as well as parents. And thus, we completely understand that while one strategy might work for one child, it might fail to work at all for the other. For instance, it has been seen that time-ins generally work well for kids who are too sensitive to be left out all alone. Likewise, time-outs work as a better strategy for those who are more impulsive in nature and are basically attention-seekers.

Each child is different in approach and behavior. This is why we, at Gurukul The School, being one of the most best school in Ghaziabad, always reckon that parents are the best judge when it comes to their children. And hence, we leave it up to our esteemed parents which way to choose for disciplining their little ones. We were, are, and will always be there to support and guide at every step our little ones, and even you, the parents, take for the bigger good of these budding geniuses!