You've Got 5 Seconds to Get Up Off that Floor and Sit Down Quietly...

Why doesn't this work? Just watching a parent say this to a child will tell you why. Then why do we do it? It's comedy in action to watch this. The child always waits until the last minute. The really funny parents don't really wait 5 seconds, but more like 5 minutes - - adding in, "I mean it!," "Stop that this minute," "You're gonna get a spanking"...It's funny to on-lookers, and it's funny to the kid. Hey, they're getting attention, aren't they? (Yes, we know it's negative, but it's still attention). As funny as this type of discipline looks, it's bad as well. It teaches kids to wait until the last minute to listen. Is that what we want? How, then, can we get their attention? This article has some great pointers.