Parental Time-out

A Parental Time-out or Pre-punishment cool-down time is a parenting technique for discipline when it comes to using punishments, especially domestic spanking. It involves stopping the situation and giving the parent time to decide rather than react on an appropriate response.

A child's actions will on occasion leave a parent frustrated or angry clouding with the child's behavior is actual misbehavior or simply rubbing the parent the wrong way, or merely badly timed. So much like a time-out can be used to get a child back under control of their emotions when it negatively effects their deportment, a pre-punishment cool-down time gives the parent the same room. However in a respect your elders philosophy it's the child the gives ground to provide the room. It also gives the parent an opportunity to marshal their thoughts for explaining to the child what they had done, and why it's considered naughty, before confronting the situation.

This can be achieved in multiple ways and a parent may stick to just one or vary which option they use with the situation.

Go to your room

The common phrase Go to your room sends the child to their bedroom while the parent takes their time-out. This is likely the least punitive option, especially if it is softened as go play in your room. While it can be seen as isolation punishment, it is a very soft one as that room is where the majority of a child's toys will be found. Though the phrase can also be hardened with amending and wait for me and/or and think about what you have done. This works as a preparation for spanking in a praise in public, chastise in private philosophy if at the end of the time a punishment is indeed called for.

Time-out

Putting the child in their typical time-out is useful if the parent believes that regardless of their final decision the child's actions are at least out of line due to over-stimulation (be it excitement or anger). It helps get the child back under control while the parent takes their own steps with their own emotions.

Corner time

A stronger isolation punishment than the above time-out can be used for the same reasons, but has the advantage that time-outs tend to be seen as a complete punishment by itself, whereas corner time, while can be a stand-alone punishment, it is equally seen as a precursor to a real punishment that could possibly follow. If the parent thinks it is unlikely that after their own cool down that the child will have anything to say that could mitigate the misbehavior, then the corner time can be enhanced in a pants down/skirt up manner. After the cool down, if the parent was wrong, they can be simply be redressed and it is easier to apologise for that than a spanking given in haste.

See also

• Cooperation
• Ritual