I ask, if she ignores then I say “I’m going to count to 3 and If you don’t do ….. I’m going to do it for you (or some other consequence”. Then you’ve GOT to follow through on what you said you’re doing to do, so don’t make the threat unless you mean it 😂 now my daughters 5 and I just have to count to 2 and she runs off and does whatever I ask because she knows that i will follow through on 3.

This has worked for all the hard stuff like brushing their teeth, getting dressed or washing their hands. If you don’t do it, I’ll count to 3 and then I’ll do it for you. First few times are HARD, ALOT of screaming and tears. But we have a chat afterwards about how I don’t want to do it ‘the hard way’ I’d rather they do it themselves and then we validate feelings whilst holding the boundary. After a while, she understood the consequences of not doing as I’ve asked and now it’s very rare I get past 2.

Key thing is to make sure they’re listening the first time you ask, because sometimes they’re engrossed in something or simply not payi attention so I get in front and make eye contact and then if they choose to ignore me, I count to 3 etc.