No, I'm pretty good at the "less is more" approach. Also good at making directions fun. We play red light-green light for when he can run vs stop. Yellow light means "watch out for something/someone around you."

Anonymous wrote:Expect - and get - compliance or nagging just becomes background noise.

Give fewer commands. The word “careful” for instance is meaningless to a kid.

What do you mean by this? I think my kid knows what "careful" means and using it helps me correct less. Like we use it when we just want her to think about what she's doing. So like she'll be riding her park around the park and I'll stop her and say "I'd like you to ride more carefully" and she knows this means to slow down a bit and pay closer attention to where she is going. It kind of forces her to take more responsibility for what she's doing with out me being like "slow down! Do you see that other kid? Don't ride right there, it's to crowded!" And so on.

There is a book called Duct Tape Parenting and it's all about this. She recommends imaging you have actual duct tape over your mouth.

I feel like I am constantly yelling, nagging, correcting. And then I got bronchitis and could not talk without a coughing fit for a week. That really shut me up and I had to use other techniques, and let a lot of things go. Chose my few words judiciously and tried to connect in other ways. It turned out to be a really productive learning experience. Now I just have to try to keep it up.

My husband literally has to leave the room after he asks the kids to do something. He can’t be around and not correct how they are doing it.

Try really hard to pick my battles. The constant nagging has to stop. Model by doing what they ask and same with DH which helps. He always does whatever fast and same for me. And yes 1:1 quality time even if it's 15 min just being there without asking them to do anything.

I do this too. I work on it and slip back into it. My son told me the other day that I never talk to him except to nag.
When I’m starting over again, I start with 5-10 minutes a day where I hang out with each of my kids, talk about what they want to talk about, and don’t ask them to do anything, explain anything, or use it as a “teaching moment.”

It always surprises me how hard it is to do. I generally see myself as easygoing and don’t really think of myself as someone who always has to have things a certain way.

Think about your corrections and evaluate whether you even should be attempting to exert this level of control. Although we are their parents, they should have all or some control to make age appropriate decisions, even if you would prefer different choices.

Expect - and get - compliance or nagging just becomes background noise.

Give fewer commands. The word “careful” for instance is meaningless to a kid.

Never repeat yourself.
If child ignores you, there needs to be a consistent consequence, which is age appropriate.

How old is your child?

Do you ever feel like you are constantly trying to tell your kids what to do?!? And then they stop listening because it’s just too much. How do you stop doing this?