Dr Phils Advice for Getting Your Child to Do Anything by Dr Phil McGraw l Parenting Advice l Parenting Tips l Tips on Raising Children l How to Get Your Child to Listen l Ways to be a Good Parent

Be Consistent In Your Discipline

Do you threaten to punish your child when he or she misbehaves, but then don't follow through with it? Dr. Phil says you're sending your child a mixed message. "If you give in some of the time, you're tough some of the time, what you have is called the intermittent reinforcement schedule. It creates the most resistant maladapted behavior of all," he explains. Being inconsistent sends the message to your child, "The last time it took five times before he caved. Then it was seven times before I got dad. So, I'll just hang in there." Your child is going to have to unlearn this behavior, because it's taught him that he gets to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it.

Try Commando Parenting

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Commando parenting means having a whatever-it-takes mentality. When one couple couldn't get their son to say in bed for the entire night, Dr. Phil suggested a drastic intervention. "If you have to, cut the top half of his door off, and lock the door from the outside so he cannot get out," he explains. "Then if he yells, ignore him. If you're worried, then get a little camera and put it in there." Expect your child to be frustrated at first when you change the rules on him. "First he'll throw a tantrum. Then he'll yell and scream. Then he'll say, 'I got to go to the bathroom. I'm sick.'" Through it all, Dr. Phil advises you to stay tough and show a high level of commitment.

Children Should Predict the Consequences of Their Behavior

Children need to be able to determine with 100 percent certainty that forbidden behavior will be met with consequences. For example, Dr. Phil advised a mother whose daughters wouldn't get out of their pajamas to tell them: "'If you don't change out of your pajamas, then you're not going to have your pajamas anymore. I'm going to take your pajamas, and we're going to throw them away.' She needs to know 'If I persist in this, it'll cost me my pajamas.'" If you don't enforce negative consequences for bad behavior, you're going to teach your children that they can do what they want when they want to, and this will serve them poorly later in life.