I have heard, through the pediatrician that the amount of time that you put a kid in time - out should equal the number of years they are. So Ella would get 2 minutes for being 2 years. "Experts" say that kids don't have long enough memories for time out to be longer than that b/c they don't recall what the punishment is for after their age / minutes.

We have been trying time-out now that we know the twins truly understand "no" and does things anyway. We have been talking about setting up the pack and play as time out so that they doesn't associate her crib as punishment. My pediatrician said to be firm, fast, and then leave the room. Ultimately, they want to be around you and have your attention.

I have adapted the timeout strategy for the classroom over the years- it has been most effective to communicate with kids of all ages in small increments of time.