If you've watched Supernanny, or read any parenting books you will have heard of the time out method to help stop misbehaviour in your child. But what exactly is it, and how do you get started?

Before we look at your child, let's look at a few adult examples. When you are stressed and on edge, most adults naturally go looking for a few moments of peace. They may go for a walk, go shopping, take a long shower, or simply take a few deep breaths. They literally take a breather, or some time out from the stressful situation in order to gather their thoughts and come back to balance.

Kids don't yet know how to do this. When they get stressed, they don't know how to calm down by themselves, or to take a breather to let the situation defuse. They tend to stay in the situation with their emotions increasing in strength. And kids are the same as adults - when emotions are high, tempers can get out of control.

Time out is all about helping children learn the vital life skill that when they are under stress, they need to take some time out to cool down, and then think about better ways of doing things.

So how do you implement time out?

Everyone has different ways to implement time outs for their kids, so if you don't feel comfortable with any of the below methods feel free to adjust them to suit your style of parenting. The below are only guidelines and are the way we like to deal with time outs for our kids:

• Start by collecting a small portable kitchen timer and selecting a place for time out. This can be a chair in a hallway or corner of a room, or a step or mat. Using our Time Out Zone Stickers will help to indicate the area where the child should stay is a great idea. Choose somewhere uninteresting away from TV, toys and which is out of reach of breakable things.
• Work out the behaviours that will result in time out: tantrums, hitting, biting, spitting, answering back, swearing, leaving the house without permission, touching the TV or stereo etc.
• Explain the time out rules to your child and do a practice run with your child when things are quiet. Pretend with your child that he/she has broken one of the rules and take them to the time out space and talk them through what will happen.
• When your child misbehaves, go down to their level so you make eye contact with them and tell them they did something unacceptable. Warn them that if they do it again they will go to the Time Out zone.
• If the behavior is repeated take the child into time out zone quickly – you want them to be in time out within 10 seconds of the problem. Tell them in one short sentence what they did wrong (such as "No hitting") and state the number of minutes the time out will last (usually one minute per year of age). Set the timer where they can see it and hear it.
• Young children may need to be escorted to the time out space, while older kids should be able to go there on their own.
• Some parents insist on silence during time out, others allow kids to yell or vent their anger as long as they are in the time out space. If you follow the second approach, then make sure you deliberately ignore the child and their attention getting behaviour while they are in the time out space.
• While your child is in time out, DON'T look at them, talk to them, talk about them to other kids or people or show your anger. Find something else to do like read a book or make a cup of tea, take a deep breath yourself and remain calm.
• When the timer goes off, go to the child and tell them that time out is over.
• Some parents like to ask the child some questions to help them work out what to do for the future. "Why did you have to go to time out? What would have been a better choice? Is there anything you can do now to make it better?"
• If the child leaves before the time is finished, quickly take them back to the space and reset the timer. You may need to hold your toddler in time out, to help them learn you mean what you say. Tell them you will let them go when they stop trying to escape.

The first few times, kids may test your willpower by misbehaving more to see what you will do. Stay with it! There's no upper limit on the number of time outs given in one day.

And you also need to set a rule about brothers or sisters teasing, laughing or talking with children in time out, or touching the timer. In most households, this usually results in the sibling getting their own time out stint.

With time out zones, do not place them where they eat, sleep or play. Doing this can cause harmful associations where they end up refusing to sleep, eat or play there. Instead choose neutral areas such as hallways or stairs.

Finally, you may also want to model time out for your kids. If you can feel yourself getting frazzled or on edge, tell your kids you are going to take some time out to get back into balance.

Using our Time Out Zone stickers is a great way to clearly mark the Time Out areas in your home. The smaller stickers are a perfect size to pop in your handbag to bring with you to other people's homes or restaurants. The matching stickers help to reinforce the time out zones in or outside of home, and the calming green colour will help your child to cam down faster.