The clinical evidence also showed that time-outs don’t work unless parents practice time-ins — positive, sometimes physical, reinforcements of good behavior. “Periodically, you touch your child’s head, or smile, or say a word of praise,” he explains. This essential yin to the time-out yang was not something that had been stressed in medical school.

Key Takeaways:

• Putting your child in time-out – removing him from an activity so he has a chance to calm down – can be an effective way to counter bad behavior. But many parents are doing time-outs wrong, a recent study suggests.
• More than a quarter of the parents said they used time-outs as a way to discipline their children. But a staggering 85 percent made mistakes that can make time-outs ineffective, the researchers said.
• Time-outs need to be boring, and talking to your child or letting him play may not make time-out boring enough, lead study author Andrew Riley of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland told Reuters.

“When the time-out is finished, give your child a hug. That lets him know you still love him, even though his behavior is unacceptable.”

http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/time-outs-are-you-doing-them-right/