When Ellie was very young, we used the time-out method to address misbehavior. An offense such as talking back would lead to at least five minutes spent in a chair in the den by herself. She always went willingly, sometimes sitting quietly until time was up, other times wailing and crying. She didn't get sentenced to time-out all that often, but when she did, it was most effective. It provided her the opportunity to calm own and after, we could talk about where she had gone wrong.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped using time-out for discipline. We didn't make a conscious decision to stop, it just sort of happened. Sitting in a chair alone for a period of time evolved into sitting home alone with no television and friends for a day or so. While she certainly doesn't enjoy being grounded, I have discovered it is generally not very effective. Grounding takes too long and by the time it is over, it has lost the connection to the behavior that got her there in the first place.

Lately, Ellie has been exhibiting some of the same behaviors that used to get her a time-out - losing her temper, yelling, interrupting, etc. So, yesterday she found herself sitting alone in the den for five minutes just as she did when she was three. And it worked beautifully. I don't know what made me think that at 7 she was too old for time-out, but I was most definitely wrong.

I know the day will come when her offenses will require harsher discipline, but for now we are returning to the time-out. All kids are different and respond differently to discipline. How do you correct misbehavior in your kids?