I've read many parenting books that direct me to time-outs. Some of the best conversations I've had with my children have been after a time-out. We both have a chance to talk about what happened, and what we can do to keep things from escalating in the future. Even so, there have been times when we continue to run into the same trouble spots. In these cases, I've found my best answers in meditation.
Meditation is a fabulous parenting tool.
Like a time-out, it gives you time to decompress. It gives you a way to release frustration and emotionality so you can deal with the cause of the situation and not just the symptoms. Meditation has also helped me to see that what I often think is a behavior problem in my children, something I need to change in them, is really something I need to change in me. This was very disturbing, to say the least. If I made him do a time-out for saying it, he would just learn to not to say what he was feeling, to hide his emotions, so I talked to a friend and teacher of mine about the situation.