“Can you come sit now?”

“Would you please eat your breakfast?”

“Could you take out the garbage?’

What do all of these phrases have in common?  They are demands disguised as questions.  When you have a child who is non-compliant or has a history of not following instructions, you are giving him/her an avenue to say, “No!”

“Can you do this?” – “No, why should I?”

Sound familiar?

Instead, rephrase your instructions as statements.

“Come here” 

“Sit down”

“Please take out the garbage”

“Eat your breakfast”

Etc.

By becoming aware of this one simple thing and changing your language will go a long way to increasing your child’s compliance.