Poll: Is time out going too far?

[Danpascooch]

Your right, better to inflict physical harm, and then let him stab both his sister and his parents

It's not black and white, your just too stupid to understand the proper course of action

Firstly, the word you intended to use in both of your sentences is "you're". As in "you are". Sorry, Grammar Nazism springing into action there.

Secondly, the poster you replied to isn't stupid; he showed you the potential consequences of involving the police in a family dispute. I also feel that said poster was implying that if the parents had used negative reinforcement as a punishment on his brother before he had escalated to threats of violence with a knife, then such an unfortunate situation could have been avoided. I'm just guessing here, but I take it that the poster's sibling was not originally so agressive. The issue with negative reinforcement is that some take it too far, and yet others believe that it has gone too far already. Negative reinforcement can be a useful tool when disciplining younger children.

As for the original point of this thread, I think the issue that some missed was that children with honest to God behavioural problems were the ones being put into the time out closet. I personally have no problem with the time-out closet conept being used as a punishment for disruptive or misbehaving children (hell, try spending an entire day of an in-school suspension in a less-than-cubicle sized room; I did and I'd say I've turned out alright). However, if little Bobby has a mental condition that prompts tantrums, and you treat him by sending him to the closet, then you need to rethink your strategy.

But the parents aren't exactly off the hook from my rantings either. If your child has a condition like that, then it is your responsibility to tell the school about it, and honestly you should look at special ed treatment for your child. They usually have much smaller classes, so your child can receive the kind of one-on-one attention that they need to succeed. While some may frown upon punishments like this in school, I think that in the long run they can be helpful.

Ok, I am officially ending talking about this guy's siblings and stuff, that has become way off topic

But about the school, some people have panic attacks when forced to be in enclosed spaces, it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite), could you imagine if you stuck a kid with both claustrophobia and asthma in one of those? The resulting panic attack, combined with the asthma, could literally have them leaving in a body bag.

If a kid is out of control to the point where you need to lock him in a box, its better to suspend him, or even expel him if it becomes a habit, every other school in the Western world seems to get by without locking kids in closets, why can't this one?

BTW it may seem hard to relate to someone with claustrophobia, but let me tell you, locked in one of these places would drive them absolutely insane, it would probably become a recurring nightmare, and cause psychological damage.

 

[Danpascooch]

ok, there's

1.) Time out (making a child calm down by reducing the activity around them)
2.) Hitting (yeah, not ok)
3.) Locking kids in broom closets, and saying that it is ok

I would rather they hit me

Hitting is ok, provided it's not BEATING and yes there is a difference. Time out is fine, locking kids in a closet, hmm... not so sure about. Actually, I guess it matters how long we're talking about, if hours on end, no. Not acceptable. If it's for like, 15, 20 minutes, sure, why not, as long as it's used very, very sparingly.

If you stuck a kid with both claustrophobia and Asthma in one of those, the kid could have a panic attack, and die.

 

[irishdelinquent]

But about the school, some people have panic attacks when forced to be in enclosed spaces, it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite), could you imagine if you stuck a kid with both claustrophobia and asthma in one of those? The resulting panic attack, combined with the asthma, could literally have them leaving in a body bag.

Yes, there is the potential for a negative reaction while being punished. However, we cannot avoid doing something strictly because there's the chance for a negative backlash. If we did that, then we would have no medical advancement. Also, you make it seem like a teacher would ignore the sounds of a child having a panic attack. Teachers aren't stupid; if they hear a child hyperventilating, they'll let them out.

If a kid is out of control to the point where you need to lock him in a box, its better to suspend him, or even expel him if it becomes a habit, every other school in the Western world seems to get by without locking kids in closets, why can't this one?

BTW it may seem hard to relate to someone with claustrophobia, but let me tell you, locked in one of these places would drive them absolutely insane, it would probably become a recurring nightmare, and cause psychological damage.

Notice how the articles said there were two other schools that use this practise? And again, a claustrophobic child would only be sent into a time-out room once before they realized that another form of treatment was needed. And suspension is too harsh for a simple class disruption, let alone expulsion.

 

[Maze1125]

it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite),

Tests have shown that doing such a thing is in fact the single most effective way of curing someone of arachnophobia.
And if you inject them with drugs that heighten fear, it works even faster at curing them.

 

[Superbeast]

I don't see a problem with it - the room is not "broom closet" sized, and it's certainly not comparable to a cell as they're only spending a few minutes in there not 2+ years.

Here in the UK some schools have specific "detention rooms" and occasionally "coolers" - or at least a few I went to did. Ok these are normally classroom-sized, but they were used to send kids to to either calm down if they were upset, or to have somewhere to keep them out the way whilst whatever they'd started cooled down (and so a person of authority - usually department head or head teacher could find them easily). If the kid isn't in there when the head arrives they know they are in a lot of trouble, and they're no longer in the class disrupting the others' learning - so it tends to work out OK.

Mind you, I also advocate spanking. I was spanked when I did something seriously wrong, and it was a great deterrent for when I had a "brilliant idea" that usually involved some sort of projectile aimed at my older sisters. The current ban on spanking, threatening (and soon maybe giving your child a bath /semi-sarcasm) is completely intrusive and pointless and causing a lot of problems with kids that don't understand wrong-from-right, or that that actions have consequences (combine lax parental punishment with the "cool" view that the police are useless and you have kids that don't see a problem in breaking rules, even the law, because the punishment is "soft" compared to the reward/respect for doing whatever it was in the first place).

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I find it immensely distressing that the notion of sending children into 'time outs' is somehow controversial enough to warrant asking if it goes to far(!) - of course it isn't, it's not going remotely far enough. Children on the whole are not rational enough to benefit from 'removal of privileges', they just need a good spanking!

 

[Danpascooch]

it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite),

Tests have shown that doing such a thing is in fact the single most effective way of curing someone of arachnophobia.
And if you inject them with drugs that heighten fear, it works even faster at curing them.

Yeah, what "tests"?

What do you have a phobia of? Maybe we should psychologically torture you too

 

[Danpascooch]

But about the school, some people have panic attacks when forced to be in enclosed spaces, it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite), could you imagine if you stuck a kid with both claustrophobia and asthma in one of those? The resulting panic attack, combined with the asthma, could literally have them leaving in a body bag.

Yes, there is the potential for a negative reaction while being punished. However, we cannot avoid doing something strictly because there's the chance for a negative backlash. If we did that, then we would have no medical advancement. Also, you make it seem like a teacher would ignore the sounds of a child having a panic attack. Teachers aren't stupid; if they hear a child hyperventilating, they'll let them out.

If a kid is out of control to the point where you need to lock him in a box, its better to suspend him, or even expel him if it becomes a habit, every other school in the Western world seems to get by without locking kids in closets, why can't this one?

BTW it may seem hard to relate to someone with claustrophobia, but let me tell you, locked in one of these places would drive them absolutely insane, it would probably become a recurring nightmare, and cause psychological damage.

Notice how the articles said there were two other schools that use this practise? And again, a claustrophobic child would only be sent into a time-out room once before they realized that another form of treatment was needed. And suspension is too harsh for a simple class disruption, let alone expulsion.

Ooo TWO WHOLE OTHER SCHOOLS! well, if three schools do it, they must know better than the thousands of other schools

I will say it again, if you put a kid with claustophobia and asthma into one of these rooms, the resulting panic attack could cause the kid to suffocate

You guys have no idea how severe claustrophobia can get, for some kids, this would be the so terrifying that it could cause serious damage to their psyche for the rest of their lives, and THAT, is more severe than suspension

What the hell happened to dentention anyway? That works just fine

 

[Maze1125]

it would be like putting an arachnophobic child in a room filled with spiders (that don't bite),

Tests have shown that doing such a thing is in fact the single most effective way of curing someone of arachnophobia.
And if you inject them with drugs that heighten fear, it works even faster at curing them.

Yeah, what "tests"?

Proper careful scientific tests with willing volunteers who were very grateful afterwords that they were no longer scared of spiders.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

ok, there's

1.) Time out (making a child calm down by reducing the activity around them)
2.) Hitting (yeah, not ok)
3.) Locking kids in broom closets, and saying that it is ok

I would rather they hit me

Hitting is ok, provided it's not BEATING and yes there is a difference. Time out is fine, locking kids in a closet, hmm... not so sure about. Actually, I guess it matters how long we're talking about, if hours on end, no. Not acceptable. If it's for like, 15, 20 minutes, sure, why not, as long as it's used very, very sparingly.

If you stuck a kid with both claustrophobia and Asthma in one of those, the kid could have a panic attack, and die.

True, but if you know your child has those things, why would you do that in the first place? It's asking for more trouble then it's worth.

 

[crudus]

people should be taking an intro psyc class to be parents to know how children to get children to behave however you want. They think that punishment is all that is needed. However, when you punish a child you give them attention which they crave from their parents. If punishment is all the interaction a child has with their parents then the child is going to act out... a lot. People don't understand that you can't just punish the bad behaviors, but you have to reinforce the good once too.