Time Out Help/Advice

Ethan is 3 and i have tried the following...
Naughty Corner
Naughter Mat
Standing to face the back door
Putting in bedroom (door open)

In all of these he just comes straight back out and none have been effective. He is very stubborn and after being put back the the corner etc for about the 20th time i have to give up because DD (who is 1) has come to see what the noise is about.

Ethan has been hitting for about 2 months now and it is driving me and DH nuts. I need to get on top of it all.

I am starting to try timeout in bedroom with door closed however he just opens the door.

So what i want to know is....
How do you use time out??
Should i stand there and hold the door?
Do i just put him in and leave him (he will come out though)
Should i put up a saftey gate for 3 mins?

Yep I agree with Liz.

There's a great book by Dianne Levy - Time out for Tots to Teens - that you may want to get out of the library. It covers all this stuff and it's working really well for us.

She says that holding the door just lets the tddler know that you're still there and involved and so she recommends a lock so that you can distance yourself until they're ready to co-operate.

Edited by Bobbie

Something slightly different you could try, which we do and works really well. Is taking away toys they like.

Yesterday Keira had a big meltdown after Pushing and Hitting her sister...smashing the washing basket. She just kept going, would sneak out of time out a do something else naughty. Each time she did something naughty I would put away her favourite toy. After putting away 3 of her favourites she quickly got the idea and snapped out of it.

I havent yet decided exactly when to give the toys back but I am thinking more of a reward for good behaviour and playing with her sister nicely.

Maybe worth a try.....