When your child is disciplined is also important.

Generally, with small children the consequence should immediately follow the misbehavior. Young children are still learning which behaviors are good and which are unacceptable, and thus need immediate feedback.

For older children, the consequence doesn’t have to be immediate – you may want to cool down and/or consult with the other parent before meting out a punishment – but it should be timely. Making children wait to find out their “sentence” 1) creates anxiety for them; 2) strains your relationship with them; and 3) may cause them to obsess about their punishment instead of thinking about how to correct their behavior.