Dear all,
My husband cannot get our kids to do their chores. He asks them something; they don´t respond/walk away/etc. and then he turns to me to say "they aren´t listening, can you ask them". If I want them to clean up their plate after dinner, I ask, ask again, ask in a stern voice and - if necessary - would physically take them there to pick up their plate. I admit, sometimes I yell at them. Most of the time this isn´t necessary though. They are 9-7-2 and obviously with the oldest entering teenage territory, I´m afraid that if he doesn´t catch on now, it will be lost forever 
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I´ve tried reading up on communication online, but it would be really good to have a book that we can use for reference. Not something technical, but more of a ´communication with kids for dummies´ type of thing (I don´t think he´d read it if it was too academic).
There are no parenting classes in our area and I also doubt that he would go there. He comes from a southern European country where I think the education was more dictatorial, so he just cannot find a ´voice´ between too soft (and them ignoring the request) and too angry (and them cowering away). Would you have good suggestions?