I started my formal martial arts journey back in 1975. I studied under Grand Master Pong Ki Kim. He was my Tae Kwon Do Teacher. He had recently immigrated from South Korea and had little command of the English language.

Training back then was rough to say the least. I was 12 years old, overweight, and really NOT athletic. To be honest, I was one of Master Kim’s least talented students!

As I said, training was tough. We trained daily. The dojo (training hall) was a small splintery floor, no mats, mirrors or safety equipment of any kind.

In the beginning, we didn’t even have a kids classes, not that I would have been able to fit  into a  kids class. I was really big at 12, about 5’5’. So I always trained with the adults.

Now being a kid in an adult environment was NOT easy. It was highly disciplined and due to Master Kim’s language barrier; discipline was usually “instilled’ at the end of a stick!

Fast forward 42 years and today we do NOT need sticks to instill discipline in kids. My instructors are versed in over 40 Teaching Skills.

One of the most powerful of these strategies is a Time-Out.

Yes, this is the same time-out parents use today with their kids at home.

However, a lot of parents struggle with the proper execution of this strategy.

Parents come to me asking why I think their time-out is not working for their kid? After careful inspection, I usually conclude that the timeout was done wrong.

Sending a child to their room where they have all their toys and video games is NOT a punishment…it’s a vacation.

The difference is that we make sure that the child understands that there will be NO fun to be had because of poor behavior.

Now kids (especially small ones) don’t really get “easy or hard” what they do get is FUN and BORING!

There is nothing more boring than a well-placed time-out. Kids would rather rub sandpaper on their eyeballs than sit in a time-out!

Now if your kid is older how would a time-out work?

Simple, it’s called being grounded! Take away privileges like the internet or their phone and watch how they will quickly conform. The difference would be that the sentence is NOT lifted until you see the behavior you want CONSISTENTLY and a minimum time has been served.

The key here is to stick to your guns, follow through and I’ll see your kid at the top!