1-2-3 Magic: 3-Step Discipline for Calm, Effective, and Happy Parenting

5

GETTING RESULTS THROUGH

COUNTING

Sometimes Your Silence Speaks Louder Than

Your Words

WHEN YOUR KIDS ARE acting up, you now know what you’re not
supposed to do: get excited and start chattering. But just what are you
supposed to do?
To help with your first giant parenting job—controlling obnoxious
behavior—you’ll use the 1-2-3, or counting, procedure. Counting is
surprisingly powerful and deceptively simple, but you have to know
what you’re doing for this process to be most effective. In the
beginning, keep two things in mind:

• First, you will use the counting method to deal with Stop
  (obnoxious or difficult) behavior. In other words, you will be
  counting for things like arguing, fighting, whining, yelling,
  tantrums, and so on. You will not use the 1-2-3 method to get
  the child up in the morning, to get her to do her homework, or