Believing children want to communicate with you, listening to children, discussing with your children what you want them to do, being very clear about what you want them to do, setting clear limits and boundaries, being firm and consistent, giving the same message every time, viewing disagreements between parents and children as opportunities to develop problem-solving and negotiation skills Make requests to your child short and to the point, make one request at a time, let your child know clearly what you would like him or her to do, be realistic in your expectations considering the child`s age and ability, use `do` rather than `don`t` requests, make requests polite, don`t threaten later punishment e.g. when Dad gets home, etc., use `when` and `then` requests e.g. when you have got dressed, then we can go to the park .
