What age to start Time Out??

Unfortunately, a 13 MO does not understand time out. She has to be at least 1-1/2 yr old. We started time outs with DS when he turned 2 yr old. We never do time outs more than 2 minutes for him.
If ur little one cries or screams in mall, pick her up, take her to a calm place and talk to her. I used to hold DS's hand tightly (so that it hurts just a little bit and I can get his attention), look into his eyes and tell him this is not right.. Most of the time it worked.
U can also try doing a Naughty Chair. I think she would understnad that (maybe).
So, when she is doing something u dont want her to do, ask her not to do it politely ( not screaming or glaring at her). If she does it again, tell her you would put her on naughty chair if she does it again. If she does it again, put her on a chair. We used the bar stools in the house. they were a little higher and DS could not get down from them easily. I would face them towards the wall so that he cant see anyone and no one sees him. Do it for 1 min for each year of age. So 1 min for ur DD. Then take her down and tell her u did it because she was doing something wrong/ dangerous or improper.
This helped us for 2-3 months, till he was big enough to understand talk.
Hope this helps.. If u do the chair 2-3 times, she would understand and would listen to u as she does not want to sit on the chair.
However, in a public place, the best solution to stop the tantrum is to pick her up, bring her in car or some calm place and talk to her.

 

Hi Suji,

My daughter is 14 months now. We take her to malls/restaurants. When we go to malls we take turns taking care of her. When we go to shopping we take either cheerios/some snacks and also some toys. When she starts something similar to tantrum we just distract her giving some toy or some shopping item.

I take a light weight stroller (available in walmart for 11 dollars or so) and one baby carrier. Mostly we keep her in cart but when she starts tantrum we shift her to stroller. As this stroller is light weight we keep it in cart. When she is cranky again we carry her. I think for 1-2 hrs they will be fine but they get bored later.

See what makes her distracted. Use that.

Sri

 

Hi Suji,

Yes, they can understand time outs. Also every child is different. So don't think your DD behaving differently just give her own time to settle and understand time outs. Let her enjoy it in her own way.

My DS is 22 months old. We go outings often, such as to malls/other places. He also behaves same way especially When we purchase groceries,he gets down to rearrange the things placed in the shop, so we let him do that for sometime(not to the place where glass items there)and we replace it back. So he gets satisfied that he has been allowed to do things to his wish and listen to our words.(not all times especially when he is hungry or wants to sleep he shows his discomfort by doing things to his choice). Nowadays we have limited our outing times to maximum of two hours and also we plan for outings according to his mood.

 

Hi

My 2 cents... 13 months is too young to start timeout. A child should atleast be 18 months old to understand the concept. even then a minute for each year is what is advised so no longer than 2 minutes.

My son hated going out and would cry a lot. So I limited my trips outside until he was ready. He is now 22 months and loves to go to the mall. However he can get tired, cranky and sleepy and that's when he begins to throw tantrums. Some children do get sensory overload and this causes them to behave in an unruly manner.

I have started timeout since he was 18 months and he now understands the concept.

Your daughter is very young and probably needs a combination of reassurance, firmness and some leeway to explore. My son also behaves in a similar fashion but once he has had a chance to explore or do whatever it is he wanted to for about 2-3 minutes he calms down and will listen to me.

I know it is really tough and can be really embarassing. Hang on there.