Lately my dd, 28 months old, has decided that time outs are funny. She actually laughs. I use a stern voice but she still laughs. I put her in a room to have a time out, she sits on the bed for 2 min and then has to say she is sorry. What can I do to let her know I mean business? I have heard of the 1,2,3 magic book but have no idea what the concepts are. Any help is appreciated. I want to nip this in the bud now so it doesn't get worse!

Nicki, I actually read the Supernanny book and it says that the naughty step/mat/corner/room concept is for toddlers starting at about 2-1/2. This is because it is at this age that they can conceptualize that they have done something wrong or hurt someone, etc. and can actually take that time to consider it. It's possible that K just isn't to that point yet.

That said, I DO use the same technique and don't require much from Julia except to stay in the corner until I come get her. I don't think it's a huge deal that K is laughing at this point (although I can imagine it's REALLY frustrating). JMHO...

Alex doesn't laugh but he used to just sit in his time out chair and wave at me and smile and say mommy and hi, trying to be all cute. I just went into another room so he couldn't see me so he knew it wasn't a game. Now he mopes or cries when he has to sit there, not so fun anymore. But it's working! How frustrating for you though! I semi-read 1,2,3 magic and what I got from it was just to count and say "that's one" and hold up one finger and so on till 3, then they went to time out. I do that except I say, "that's one! Do you want to go to time out? Lately he's been saying no and then he quits doing whatever he's doing wrong.:lol:

Ignore the laughter. She's trying to be cute about it. If it helps you to not laugh about it :) , remind her in a stern voice that you are very sad/angry/upset about whatever the incident was, and don't feel like smiling right now.

Thank you all so much. I am stern and tell her it is not funny, although it is hard. I do put her in the corner and leave the room, I figure most of the time she wants my attention. I will just keep doing it and hopefully she will figure it out soon. I just talked to my dh and told him we need to be sure we are using the same "system" so she doesn't get confused.

Ignore the laughter. She's trying to be cute about it. If it helps you to not laugh about it :) , remind her in a stern voice that you are very sad/angry/upset about whatever the incident was, and don't feel like smiling right now.
:nod: Both Aidan and Colin laugh at time outs. It's very frustrating but they still do help.

Well, Emily has just this weekend started laughing. It's AWFUL. I've been doing 1-2-3 Magic, and that was working, but now when I say "That's 1" she'll say "two" because we've been teaching her to count. :brick: Add that to her laughing when I put her in time out, standing on the time out chair, and in general not staying there, and I'm ready to pull my hair out!