help! i've got a toddler...

[mazzystar]

what are your top tips for setting boundaries, discipline when necessary?

how do you do a stern voice without being met with hilarity?

IMO you don't need a stern voice, just a calm voice and you must be consistent.

When ds (nearly 4) doesn't listen I say quite nicely and politely, "If you do that again I'll have to ask you to go on the naughty step". He hates the naughty step, but if that doesn't have any effect then I threaten him with time out upstairs which is literally me taking him upstairs putting him in the bedroom and closing the door for a nanosecond. He cries buckets but the message gets through.

If I so much as raise my voice to him I get an hour of "why did you shout at me, you were rude to me".