One thing I dislike more than having a time out chair, is having to use it. I am team teaching Sunday school this year to 6 year olds and the other teacher created some "ground rules" including this time out chair. I personally have never believed that Sunday school should be taught the same way as regular school. Primarily because I believe discipline should be taught at home. We only teach for one hour a week, and learning about Jesus should be enjoyable not associated with punishment. This week I had to use the time out chair for a child, mostly at the insistence of my other 6 year olds, can you believe it? I felt horrible asking this boy to sit in the time out chair. I think it hurt me more than it hurt him. I didn't even know how long he should sit there for, so I said we would do it for two minutes and I set a timer.
I later found out that my co-teacher had sat two children in the time out chair the week before.
I think I am going to do things differently next time I teach. I really dislike the idea of the time out chair. I think that if a child is being disruptive its because they are not engaged and something in the lesson needs to be changed to have them get involved and enjoy it. For example, I noticed my kids like to sing, so every Sunday I teach, we start with a song. It helps calm them down. I also notice they enjoy sitting around my table, so we sit in a semi circle around the table or on the floor. Helps me be closer and more reachable I assume.
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