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I have seen so many parents tell their children to stop doing something and then do NOTHING to follow up when the kids keep right on doing what they were told not to do. If you tell a child to stop doing something, you MUST be prepared to get up out of your chair and take hold of him or her and physically stop the forbidden activity. If you say stop and follow up, the message is clear. If you say stop and then do nothing, the message is also clear.

If you tell a child to stop doing something, you MUST be prepared to get up out of your chair and take hold of him or her and physically stop the forbidden activity.

And if you've had to repeat yourself, there must still be a consequence, even if they stop it once you've gotten up...else they know they can safely ignore you until you actually get up, or actually get ahold of them.

[If you tell a child to stop doing something, you MUST be prepared to get up out of your chair and take hold of him or her and physically stop the forbidden activity.]

Something that made a big impression on me when I was a teenager was my father having to discipline someone else's child. We hosted an extended family get-together at our home with about twenty-five relatives and in-laws, and one of the kids (I think he was about nine) continued to act in an obnoxious manner prompting my dad to tell the kid's father "He needs to behave in our home." The father told the kid several times to behave, and the kid proceeded to ignore him each time so my dad went over to him and picked him up and put him on the sofa, flat on his stomach, and then SAT on him. He told the kid that when he could demonstrate good behavior, THEN he would let him up. The kid started whining and the father looked uncomfortable but he didn't say anything (because he was a wuss).

My dad continued to carry on conversations with other adults while intermittently telling the kid to stop struggling and be quiet and behave for just a short time and he could get up. The boy eventually stopped whining, and after about two minutes of consistent quiet, my dad asked him, "Do you think you can behave on your own if I let you go, now?" The kid said "Yes, sir." (he actually DID say "sir") and the look on the father's face at that moment was of amazement. Boy behaved for the rest of the day.