The counting discipline

"Finish brushing your teeth/washing your hands/face, gargelling/whatever. I'm going to turn off the lights on the count of 3. 1,2,3!"

Then I see four small feet scampering, four little hands being wiped on the towel and two kiddoes rushing out of the bathroom. No amount of shouting, reasoning, talking nicely eg "hurry up, stop playing with water" etc works but counting does.

"Pick up your toys before you play something else/we go out/we go to sleep etc. I'm going to count to 10. 1....2....3....4...5...6...7...8....9....10!"

This works very well too. In fact, my boy thinks its a game. Sometimes when I forget, he asks me to count. "Mummy count!" then he goes about rushing to keep his toys in their assigned places. I have a place for everything and I like everything in its place. When the kids are playing I let them play till the whole area looks like a hurricane has struck but when its time to move on to another activity/to go out/or to go to bed, then its time to pack up or clean up.

"Ok. No more talking. Lets see who sleeps first on the count of 20. 1........2........3....... ("Mummy, why...") Shhh....4........5.......6.....7......8......9.......10......11........12..........
13.........14.............15..............16.............17.............18.........19..
........20."

I just tried this recently and it worked. By the end of 20 baby was almost asleep and my girl fell asleep soon afterwards. Otherwise they would chatter non-stop. However I don't think this trick will work very long for napping sessions. They'll catch on sooner or later. Hahaha.