Do you have to warn your kids over and over before they ever obey? Well, that could be the problem. When kids know that you’re not going to do anything about their misbehavior until you’ve warned them several times, they learn to tune you out. Why should they obey? They know you’re not going to do anything about it for a while. However, if your children know you’re only going to warn them once, and then you’re definitely going to do something about their misbehavior, suddenly they have an incentive to obey the first time. So let your kids know that from now on, they’re only going to get one warning. Then they’re going to get a consequence. It may take awhile to undo their bad habit, but with a consistent pattern of giving only one warning before you take action, they’ll
soon learn to obey without delay.
