DS 18mths old- does 'time-out' work on them at this age?

[TheBreastmilksOnMe]

He can be a bit 'trying' sometimes, especially when I am tending to one of my mindees. He is an extremely bright 18mth old and I think much of it is jealousy. Usually if I am changing another child's nappy he will continue to try and stand on their face, or like today throw a wooden block at them. He threw the tv remote at an older mindees head yesterday. He also tries to hit me in my face and scratches others. I deal with it by saying 'No' firmly and frog-marching him over to the 'silly-billy step'. I make him sit there for a minute then go and get him and carry on as normal. I am racked with guilt though, wondering if it is the right approach. I'm sure he understands, but does he? He's only just out of babyhood. It's hard for him to have to share me with the other children and I notice he's worse just before mealties (hunger) and when he's tired. He understands a lot of what I say and demands a lot of my attention. I really feel as though I should know all this, what with being a CMer! It's just so different when it's your own though! It shouldn't be but somehow it feels it.

I see a red mist when they attack me (or each other) physically. You are doing what I would do (I would also explain why you've stepped him). Whether it works for them or not who knows, but at least it gets him out of your way for a minute and gives you a tiny slot to get your head together. All this will pass...

I've never used time out! I just never expected them to sit still in one place. I tend to isolate them in their bedroom or somewhere else (we have stairgates on a few doorways rather than stairs), saying if they can't play nicely they can't play with us at all.

If you google the GI diet you can get some tips on slow-energy-releasing foods to avoid carb crashes like you mention. It's not really a diet, just sensible eating for all the family.

I started using timeout at age 18 mo with both of my boys, but only to deal with specific undesirable behaviors rather than for general naughtiness. So for ds1 at that age, it was for throwing toys and for ds2 it was for pulling hair. I found it worked really well.