Eradicate that sing-songy tone from your home this week! On this Monday's Heads-Up Parenting Tip (90.9 fm in Arizona at 3:35p MST), I give you a heads up on how to stop the whine factor in its tracks. Here's what I said:

"Today I am going to impart something to you that could change your life. I mean it. Here it is: You, as a parent, do NOT have to put up with whining from your children.

Scenario One: You look your child in the eye, tell them this is a no-whining house and that you'd be happy to respond if and when they choose to use a normal tone of voice. They have a full out tantrum because you didn't hop to their command or request. After all, they may be accustomed to the wonderful world of whining where they get whatever they want as long as they're persistent enough. What do you do now? Again, simple. Of course you can NOT give in, because that teaches them that in order to be really effective as a kid, they have to act bad enough to get you to do what they want. Not the message you want to send, right? Instead, you put them in a tantrum spot (if they're little) which can be in their room, on a chair or a step... whatever you want it to be. No leaving the spot until you say so. OR, if they're an older tantrum-thrower, you walk away from them, go straight to their bedroom with a large plastic garbage bag, and start loading up. Yes, I'm serious. Say nothing. Just begin removing stuff from their room. The more they like the stuff you take, the better. When they ask you what you're doing, you can respond by saying, "Oh- now don't bother with what I'm doing! Concentrate on what YOU'RE doing. Continue on with that tantrum, dear. I'll just pack up toys until you're done." Those toys/clothes/whatever do NOT come back into the room until you have seen major improvement over a "long" period of time. (You decide. A month, perhaps? Don't set a time limit, just watch and see.)

Scenario Two: You look your child in the eye, tell them this is a no-whining house and that you'd be happy to respond if and when they choose to use a normal tone of voice. Your child continues to whine, not willing to concede that you may actually mean what you say. Do you stop and repeat yourself? NO! Do you finally sigh and give them what they want because this technique isn't working? NO!! Do you finally lose it and yell at them to knock it off? NO!!!!!! Do you go about your business as if they were located in another county at that moment? Yes. While whining, they do not exist. If this escalates to a tantrum (they hit you, fall on the floor, kick and scream, etc.), then refer to scenario number one.

Listen, if your child has practiced whining for a year... three years... nine years... whatever, it will take time to undo this habit. That's really all it is. It's a really nasty habit that drives people around them crazy and is totally inexcusable over the age of two. (You still work on it during the second year of life, but it's to be expected. After that, no.) It will take time. It will never be eradicated, however, if you quit on your child. So you can't quit, you can't give in, and you can't be inconsistent. Create a whine-free home today and make it stick. It might be hard at first, but once your child believes you're dead serious and begins to break the habit, you'll find it gets a lot easier quickly.

For much more inspiration and additional resources, get our book.