How many times have you been at the end of your rope and you just didn’t know what to do anymore? Do you find yourself screaming, “If you do that one more time I swear I’ll throw all your toys away!”? Threats such as these may be very ordinary for some families, but let me tell you why parents shouldn’t be making threats like these:

Simply put – because you really can’t follow through. I mean, really … will you really throw away all of your child’s toys? If you make empty threats, your child will learn to never believe them. They’ll go in one ear and out the other. You’ll wreck your ability to use discipline effectively.

So, imagine my delight when I saw this article at babycenter.com. It gives a few common parenting scenarios (geared to 5 year olds). The article was written by Dorothy Foltz- Gray, a freelance writer and mother of two in Knoxville, Tenn.

The author provides “typical” (read: “wrong”) ways to talk to a child, and suggested correct ways to speak. I largely agree with everything in the post, although I have lots of suggested changes based on the language techniques I teach in my “Talking to Toddlers” audio course.

For further reading, you might want to check out The Healthy Alternative to These Poisons in Your Fridge and What Exactly are Terrible Twos.

SEE ALSO: This audio lesson will forever change the way you interact with your kids