Do you have a naughty step??

[VanillaMilkshake]

I just wondered how many of you agree and disagree with the naughty step thing??

We tried it for a while but DD(2 then - 3 now) used to get off and short of holding her there there was no way we could make her stay, and as we are open plan I could'nt shut a door etc.

So now when she is naughty she is told firmly what she has done is not acceptable and to go away. And she takes herself out of the room or directly to the step. Then when she has thought about things she comes back and apologises. Dont know how we fell into this behaviour with her but it seems to work for us. And we hardly have to do it anymore anyway - not that she is an angel, but she seems to listen more.

Just curious about everyone else does.

We have a naughty step (ds is just 3) and have had for 9 months or so. (Wasn't necessary before then.)
Found first week of it very hard to enforce. Ds kept getting off and it made the whole process last ages. Then he went through a phase of refusing to say sorry once he'd done his time, so again it would take ages. That said we persevered and now hardly ever need to use it and it did stop the behaviours we found unacceptable (hitting, throwing stuff at us or the TV or with food or drink on/in it, disobeying being told to do/not do something).
Will add that penny seemed to really drop when gps (the only other people who "take him off our hands" for any period of time) finally started to use it too (for a while he used to save it up for them or for the minute I wasn't watching). Ultimately he likes being called a good boy - I think all kids probably do - and this was a very clear way of showing him what behaviours were good (lots of praise - though again gps a bit slow on the uptake of this one) and what was naughty.

Dh would have been more extreme, he says, and banished him to his room every time he did something naughty - but I felt the step meant that we dished out the consequence quicker after the event so he was more likely to make the connection (ds non-verbal and his understanding isn't always what it should be). Since I look after ds all day we did it my way!