I worked in a Kindergarten class for 2 1/2yrs. The "time out" method is a blessing. Every child gets three warnings. First warning "Joe is it your turn to talk or the teachers? Please sit quietly and listen to the instructions." Second warning "Joe it is not your turn to speak. If you have a question please wait until I'm done." Third warning the teacher gets up holds out her hand for the kids hand "Time to go sit away from the class until you are ready to listen." & they go sit in the door way of the teachers office were the teacher can keep an eye on them. They sit there for all of a minute & then are asked if they are ready to join the class. I find that it is very effective. The child even apologizes to the teacher & goes back to their desk with a smile & finishes what ever they were working on. If a child gets very disruptive the teacher does the three warnings but on the third one the PM teacher or myself goes up to them puts our hand out & say "Joe lets go sit in the office where its quiet so we can calm down and think about why Mrs. M has asked you to be quiet." After the teacher is done with the instructions she talks to the child & asks them if they know why she asked them to be quiet & to then sit in a time out area. I've seen the way the parents act when they are volunteering & honestly, the parents are okay with it. They've apologized to the teacher & say thank you for handling it the way they did. I've even heard them when school is out saying that if Mrs. M has to put them in time out again tomorrow they are grounded. I think that is reasonable because it's showing them that not only do their actions have consequences at school but at home as well. Granted you are almost always going to have that one kid that continues to act out because he wants the attention. There was one child like that my first year. He was kid number 7 in his family out of 7 kids. He was use to having to act out to get attention from anyone at home.

I'm not a parent but I do approve of spanking. Now I know it doesn't work with all children. There are some that you can talk to them & reason with them & they behave. Others a swift swat to the ass or hand (not to cause pain but to snap them out of bad behavior) works great. I was five years old & I decided I was going to hide in the clothes rack while my mom was shopping. She got scared & by the time she found me she was mad. She spanked me in front of everyone. I never did it again. Not because I was humiliated but because I realized what I did was not only scary for my mom but dangerous. My baby sister is 8. She's the type where with some things if you send her to her room & let her scream & cry, you can talk to her after she's calmed down & explain to her why you said no to what she wanted. Other times a swift swat to the butt gets the point across, like when she's super snotty or bratty. Other times it takes not getting what they want to show them that bad behavior is not rewarded. I came home from work one day & the minute I walked through the door my sister tells me they went & saw Despicable Me. My mom sent her to bed with no desert because she found it disrespectful of her to do when I just got home from work(we were suppose to go as a family to see it).

As for the Easter & Christmas thing, the only way I new it was about Jesus & God was because of my parents not anything at school. The teachers I volunteered for they asked the children if they celebrated other holidays during those times & if they did that they should ask their Mommies & Daddies to come in to share what they do. A few children celebrated Eid, Kwanza, Hanuka(sorry I know that's not exactly the proper spelling) & others didn't celebrate anything around the time of Christmas or Easter. I think if more schools had the children teach each other about their holidays it would be less of an issue.

Depends on many things. The age of the child, principally. I use the 'time out' method with my 2 year old to calm him down and it works, but I would not be happy with it being used in a nursery or preschool. However, once he's old enough to be at proper school, then I don't have a problem.

I teach Pre-K (4-5 y/o) in a public school in the US. No, we do not have a "naughty corner". We're not allowed to make them look at the wall, or anything of that nature, however, we DO have them sit out during certain activities, etc. when they misbehave. In my class we talk A LOT about good choices, and bad choices. I make SURE they understand that they have control of their choices, they understand my expectations, etc, and they understand the consequences of their choices... good or bad.
IF there was no consequence for bad choices, then we would not be able to control a LOT of these kids. It would be chaos. Not only that, but what are we TEACHING these children? Oh, it's ok to do whatever you want, break the rules, not follow directions, be mean to others, be disrespectful, because there's no consequences. No punishment! Yes, I keep in mind that my students are little... 4 and 5 years old. They are still learning, and this is usually their first experience in school. I explain things, talk to them, reason with them, and if all else fails, the are GOING to receive a consequence. I still have those students, though, that have no boundaries, and do NOT care what consequences they receive. They push the limits, and cause problems, and it's a constant battle. MOST of the time, their behavior is a DIRECT reflection on whether or not they are disciplined at home. Now, there are always exceptions to that, however, I see it all the time. No discipline at home = awful behavior at school. AND, these are usually the parents that want punishment/consequences to be banished...
I have a 5 year old. She is a really good kid, and is always rewarded for her good behavior. However, if she misbehaves at school, I WANT her to receive consequences for her behavior. THEN, she KNOWS she's getting another punishment at home. I don't play games with her, her behavior is a direct reflection on me as a mom, and while we rarely EVER have issues, I'm quick to nip it in the bud when a misbehavior comes up. I don't let her get away with ALOT of the things parents overlook these days. My parents didn't either. I want her to grow up being responsible, dependable, and a good person. And, to those who think punishment tears down a child's self esteem... my child has GREAT self-esteem! She's super-smart, happy, bubbly, very social, SO friendly, AND well-behaved! And, she knows mommy doesn't mess around with bad behavior!

in a childcare situation? then maybe not, my daughters preschool didnt use it, i don't know of any childcare setting that would here in the uk but i might be wrong!
but at home we use it.