your services. The charge will be twenty-five cents for the coat and
twenty-five cents for all the aggravation involved in getting her to
hang it up. Keep the talking to a minimum, and count whining,
arguing, yelling, and other forms of testing.
What can you use this version of the 1-2-3 for? Items like brushing
teeth, picking up something, or just “Would you please come here for
a second?” You are in the kitchen and you need some help for a
minute. You can see your ten-year-old son in the other room, lying on
the couch, eyes wide open. You say, “Would you please come here?”
His response is “I can’t. I’m busy.”
This kid’s about as busy as a rock. So let’s redo this one.
“Would you please come here?”
“I can’t. I’m busy.”
“That’s 1.”
“Oh, all right!”
And the reluctant servant enters the room to carry out your
bidding.
Simple Requests Revisited
Now let’s return to our question about simple requests. What if, in
spite of the fact that your voice quality was matter-of-fact, your
request was not spur-of-the-moment, and your phrasing was not
wishy-washy, your child still does not comply with what you ask him
to do? After reading this chapter, you should now see that you have
several options.
For example, after your son returned home from school, you told
him: “Be sure you change your clothes before you go outside to play.”
He’s having a snack and playing an electronic game, still in his school
clothes, when one of his friends calls him from the back door. Your
son calls back that he’ll be right out. It doesn’t sound as though a