Spank when young. Depending on your kids you might disagree with my method of punishment. But when older, they have obedience immediately

12 years. Just kidding. It totally depends.

Thanks for all the replies. Guess things are not so unusual in our household after all. : )

never……ugh - i wish i was more effective

My girls are 7 and 10. If I tell them to stop banging their spoon against the table or something they do it one more time and then stop.

If it's something like "from now on, put your shoes here instead of there" probably a week or two for them to get in the new habit.

my older girl touches her face a lot and i'm trying to get her out of the habit. it's hard because i'm not there to catch her doing it all the time.

It depends entirely on what that request is and how interesting it is.

My 9 year old has ADHD. He can remember little tidbits of information I only gave him once, 5 years ago, just because they somehow interested him, but not the rules about laundry. He has to ask EVERY SINGLE DAY confirmation from me about how to sort his laundry. For goodness's sake!

No elbows on the table took him a year, at the rate of at least one reminder per day. He's got that now.

Then there are rules that play directly into his OCD tendencies, like washing his hands after going on the toilet, before dinner, or when coming back from school - I'm not even sure if I ever told him, but he does it anyway, religiously.

This is the secret my SIL told me. Parenting is hard because you have to be a cop all the times, 24/7.

Depends on what it is.

Several times. I think DS has ADD -- teachers and camp counselors also tell us that he has trouble following directions. He is good natured and not a trouble-maker. He just doesn't pay attention and can be lost in thought for a long time. Took him at least 30 min. to brush his teeth today b/c he was just humming and thinking about his teeth (or looking in the mirror and playing with his toothbrush??? Hard to tell).

It better damn well be immediately.l

How long does it take your kids to stop doing something you've told them not to do? Is it realistic that they can stop doing something after being told once?