Can you tell me how to do the naughty step technique?

[JamesAndTheGiantBanana]

Hi, my ds is 2.8 and some of his behaviour these days is more naughty than just experimental. I'm not very good with punishments, I tend to just tell him off, but he drowns my voice out with a high pitched scream (not an upset/crying scream, more of an angry screech) which really winds me up as we do have neighbours to consider.

So I have put together a large wooden playpen with a view to using it as a naughty corner. (I know I should probably use a step but the only steps we have are our hollow uncarpeted stairs, right next to the neighbour's living room, and ds would sit there and scream/bang the wall, he's got a right temper on him)

Can anyone advise me on how you do the naughty step method, please? it doesn't necessarily have to be how supernanny does it, if your method works. tia

our steps are marble and we have iron railings for banisters so the naughty step doesn't work for me, too dangerous. The only place I can safely put DS is in his bedroom.

I only ever do this when he's gone beyond the stage of listening to any reason and/or has done something particularly awful like thrown his dinner plate across the floor, that he did the other day. What I do is give a warning "I need you to calm down otherwise I'll put you in your room" or something similar. The warning is usually ignored so he gets taken up to his room and left there until he calms down, usually only 3-4 minutes (but feels like six months), then I go and ask him if he's ready to talk about it. ATM he's having a horrendous phase of answering back and being generally obnoxious so it sometimes takes 3 or 4 goes to get an apology out of him, but he'll stay in the room till he does.

Not foolproof method but at least it gives him the chance to calm down and realise his behaviour was not "aksseptabul"

Your stairs sound lovely! Albeit not child friendly. How old is your little boy? The warning before putting him on the step/playpen/room sounds good. I get the feeling ds would ignore it too, at least at first!

Rigth now he's desperate to get in the blardy playpen I've just explained that that's the naughty corner, for naughty children. He said "I go in?" with pleading eyes.

he'll be 5 in June, been using the "technique" (not sure what to call it as there's no step involved) since he was three.

stairs lovely to look at, horrible to clean but anyway...

he might learn to view the playpen with suspicion, which is good. Better solution than bedroom because bedrooms are supposed to be havens of peace and tranquillity not screaming tantrums but have no other option

It doesn't need to be a step, just somewhere safe you can put him that he can't escape from (preferably somewhere really boring with nothing to do or look at!). We put my DD1 (25 months) out in the hallway..........there's nothing out there apart from a coat rack and she can't get upstairs because we have a stair gate. If she is doing something she shouldn't be I will tell her 'no' and explain the reason why . If she does it again, I will say 'no, if you do that again mummy will put you in the hall'. Then if she goes on to do it again (which doesn't happen much any more as the threat is generally enough) I will follow through and put her in the hall for 2 minutes.

If she was doing something dangerous that could hurt her (i.e when she starts trying to haul herself up onto the kitchen units etc), I may just give one warning rather than 2.

DS is 2.6 and we've just started to use the naughty step. It's a last resort when DS is doing something like hitting or throwing and won't be distracted out of it. He gets a warning and then goes on the bottom step until he says sorry. If he gets off the step, he's put back on there but we don't make him sit for a certain amount of time, just until he apologises.

The reason we introduced it is that sometimes he'd be hitting or whatever, and just laugh when told to stop. Using the naughty step is a clear indication to him that certain behaviour is not assepible . He's only been on the naughty step a few times but he does not like it and just the warning has stopped him in his tracks a couple of times.

He's a bit young to fully understand it but it works for us when he goes on the rampage! I still prefer to distract and praise the good behaviour though.

Thanks for your input - he's just casually climbed in and back out of the playpen. Took us ages to put the damn thing together and now it seems a bit redundant! I mean we could still use it as a time out area and just keep putting him in there if he climbs out, that's what supernanny does when she puts them on a step anyway doesn't she? until they "get" it and stay there.

The advantage of the playpen is that it has a padded floor (our house has slate tile floors throughout, not good for tantrums)

I just wanted a simple solution to use before dc2 gets here in 4 weeks!

We use the step for my twins (2.9). First they're told not to do whatever it is, then told they'll go on the step if they continue and then put there if they still do. Similarly if they won't say sorry for something.

They get two minutes on the cooker timer and know they can come off the step only when it bleeps (or they get another two minutes). I'm always amazed that they just sit there.

We have had occasions when one of them gets told off so she hangs her head and walks off to the step, without any prompting or warning. It's hard not to laugh at this which rather breaks the spell.

It's not like boot camp in our house, I don't mean to give the impression they're on the step all the time, but as an ultimate sanction it seems to work.