(Multiple times daily. Uttered by me. Over and over.)
“Liam, please don’t play in the recycling bin. Close it up. Right now.”
“Liam, please get out of the refrigerator. Mama needs you to stop turning out the light, she can’t see what she’s looking for when you do that. We don’t play in the refrigerator. We’re wasting energy when the door’s open. We’re not having milk right now. You may have water. If you throw a fit like that you can spend a little time in time out. Thank you for coming out of the refrigerator, you made a good choice.”
“Liam, please don’t take the lid off Mama and Daddy’s laundry basket. Please put it back. Please leave the clothes alone. Right now.”
“Liam, we’re not watching TV right now. Turn it off. Right now. 1….2….Thank you for listening, maybe next time you can be a helper a littler earlier.”
“I’m sorry Liam, but Mama’s hungry too and you have the same thing on your plate, so please eat yours. It’s exactly the same as Mama’s. If you keep that up you can get down from the table.”
“Library books are big boy books. You need to be careful with them. We can read them together, but please don’t spread them all over the house and try to tear them secretly. We’re putting the books back up on the shelf. We’ll read them together later.”
“Liam, don’t touch the buttons on the stove. You just turned off Mama’s timer. Now you turned off the oven. You know you’re not supposed to touch the stove. Time out. Right now.”
“Please stop rubbing the food on your hands into your pants. You don’t have enough clothing to change your clothes three times per day. Fine, you can eat lunch naked.”
“Liam, we don’t play in Mama and Daddy’s bathroom. It’s not safe. Please come out. Right now.”
You get the gist.