With any system you use, the number one MOST important thing is consistency. Also, I had some luck when my kids were little by posting certain mis-behaviors that they did too often on the fridge, along with the discipline that was to follow. You can change the behavior of little ones in a day. Boy, I miss those days!
One other thing that was a learning experience for me. My counting to 3 was usually followed by a slap on the hand or a swat on the butt. One time my little daughter was doing something….something with the TV. I don’t even remember what it was, but I was impatient, counted to 3….then realized whatever it was didn’t deserve a hand slap! But….I had to follow through, for consistency’s sake. The only good part was, at that age they really don’t know the difference between what is mildly annoying and physically dangerous, so for all she knew she deserved it. But it was a lesson for me because I felt so bad about swatting her for something so minor. I was very careful with my 1,2,3’s after that, because once you start you HAVE to follow through.
@hearkat That’s great advice. After they get to a certain age, I didn’t even impose a time limit on their time out. All I said, was, “OK, you have time out until you can figure out what you did wrong (they always act like they didn’t know, or it was someone elses fault, you know) and if it takes you 10 seconds to figure it out, or 10 hours…well, it’s up to you. As soon as you have it figured out, you can get up on your own, come to me, and ‘splain what you did wrong, and what you could have done differently.” I used to run a daycare, BTW, and I was amazed at how stubborn certain kids could be! They’d sit there for an hour giving me dirty looks, until finally giving in and coming to me! But usually it was just a matter of seconds.