Teaching Tip of the Week

The practice of giving a “time out” to misbehaving children has become pretty popular. Usually it involves separating the child from the group for a certain amount of time as discipline for an infraction of the rules. But before using this method, consider a few things:

• I heard a guest on a radio show a few years ago talking about “time out” suggest that “time out” be used to head off a potential discipline problem instead of as punishment. His thought was that “time out” after the fact merely gave the child time to think about how he could get away with it next time.

• Often a simple change of seating can solve the problem when the problem is not simply the child, but a problem of two children who, when together, tend to cause problems.

• If you do separate a child from the group, it is best to make sure that there is nothing of interest available to him where he is seated and that he is within earshot of your teaching. After all, if you can still accomplish your goal of this child learning what you have prepared from God’s Word, all the better!