1... 2... 3... or "Now!"

A big change in parenting inside the average home over the last few generations is the replacement of discipline with passiveness.  It is almost as if parents are afraid of "offending" their children and let them get away with far more than their own parents or grandparents would have allowed in their era.

If every time your child misbehaves and you start counting "1...2...3... don't do that"(you know what I'm talking about) and it doesn't do anything, you are likely doing something wrong!  This is especially true if you have to count multiple times.

 If counting immediately works for your child, then in that case it may be good for them in their specific learning style, but if you have to get to the very last second each time, or slow down, or even start counting again... then apparently it is not working!  You should be able to tell your child to: "do this" and they do it, or tell them "now" and they respond at that moment.  The new age hippy-parenting of overly "respecting the child's time and space" is rubbish in application and is part of the reason why there are so many whiny and disobedient children today compared to a few generations ago.  It is also part of why the millennial generation has so many emerging adults that are whiny and confused with their identity and/or gender.

Disciplining your child in the way that effectively works on them will not break them --- some children need spankings and some just need time-outs or things taken away, or a mix of those things.  You will learn what works with your specific child; just make sure that it actually works, and not just in your own head.  Assuming you are part of an average, standard, everyday American family, your parents and grandparents were not stupid; they knew what they were doing in raising you.

Because you didn't like how they disciplined you did not mean that it wasn't good for you.  We don't need all these new-age parenting books that have all these "new ideas."  If your child is not doing what you say when you say it, it is a good time to reevaluate your methods and look to the wisdom of your ancestors, not some hippy "let's not offend my child" parenting book.  For the record, my mother had a wooden spoon and a shoe, and she did an excellent job raising me.