French charity argues sending children to naughty step is ‘violent’

Stop VEO campaigns to change parenting guidance

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An education charity in France has claimed that disciplining children by sending them to a “naughty step” can be considered a “violent” punishment.

Stop VEO, which combats violence against children, has reportedly launched a campaign to change guidance set out by the Council of Europe that recommends parents send naughty children to “time-out”.

Many parents choose to send misbehaving children to steps, rooms, or corners to reflect on what they’ve done wrong by themselves.

But according to The Times, Stop VEO is arguing that children who act out have “inner turmoil” and need their parents’ company rather than being sent somewhere alone.

The charity, chaired by Céline Quelen, wants the council to change its parenting guidance when it comes to non-violent disciplinary methods.

The current guidance states that parents should “react to misbehaviour with explanation and, if necessary, non-violent punishment such as time-out, repairing damage, less pocket money, and so forth”.

Time-outs are also recommended by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, which says this form of punishment “allows the parent and child time to cool down”.

The CDC advises parents to explain to their child why they are being sent to time-out and not to allow anyone else in the home to speak to them while they are being disciplined.

But those backing Stop VEO’s campaign, including Agnès Florin, professor of child psychology at the University of Nantes, and Christine Schuhl, who has authored several parenting books, believe sending a child to time-out is a “measure of exclusion”.

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Florin was quoted as saying: “Putting a child in the corner might give adults the impression they are being obeyed. It’s useless. The child won’t have understood what they have done [wrong].”

In 2019, some child psychologists in the US raised concerns that time-outs were harmful for children, particularly if it involved sending the child to their room or cutting them off from contact with others in the home.

Dr Daniel Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, told Time Magazine at the time that time-outs involve “severe punishment and social isolation”.

But the method is backed by others, who say time-outs give frustrated parents the opportunity to calm down and avoid shouting or other more aggressive actions.

George Holden, chair of the Department of Psychology at Southern Methodist University, told the publication that the idea of banning time-outs is “going overboard”.

“There’s certainly a fair amount of research literature that shows time-outs can be effective in changing problem behaviour,” he said.