30 minutes for any child is way way overkill! Everything I have seen on the subject of time-outs is one minute per age of child (being used in a gentle manner and it also includes talking about it afterwards). I know I explain everything to my DD, even though she may not understand all the words yet, she will pick them up. So I explain that hitting, throwing things at people, biting, etc hurts people and it isn't nice to hurt people. She will get that. If you never explain why the child was sent to time out how is the child to know why they were sent? Or what they did was wrong? There is no way for them to make that connection.
This guy is nuts. And sorry, I have to disagree on the restruant thing too. I've taken my DD to several restrauants recently and she can get bored at some point, but then we do what the one comment suggests and bring out books, etc, or take a walk, then return. She is usually good after that and she charms the waitstaff with her little dimpled smile and waves. lol
I think there is a level of common sense that a parent knows their child and knows how they will be able to handle certain situations. On days that DD is especially cranky I don't take her out because I know it wouldn't be as easy as a normal outing as listed above. But I don't think there should be an all out boycott on being able to go out between 2-4. That just seems a bit ridiculous, but then given the ridiculousness of the rest of the article, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising.
