Age group(s) for which this technique is helpful:
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

Primarily used to improve behavior:
At Home
At School
Both At Home and At School

Instructions for using this technique:
My son has a habit of picking fights with me and his dad. He acts up just to get negitive attention. Unfortunately, he's an only child so we see everything he does. So now we give him 3 to 5 to-do list tasks a day such as clean your room, get dressed, brush teeth and hair before breakfast (breakfast isn't served until everything is done), clean front room, do 30 minutes math and 30 minutes spelling and 1 hour play in room by lunch (use timer)........etc. Then find something for yourself to do and try not to notice what he is doing unless it's life or death. If you planned your to-do list well, they won't have time to get in trouble. Oh, one more thing... don't worry if your schedule changes daily as long as they know what has to be done by when.

Other information parents should consider before using this technique:
Make sure you have a built-in consequence of the time to be done coinciding with something they want. If they're not done, it doesn't happen until they are done........ i.e. if I say something has to be done by breakfast, I mean breakfast will be served as soon as you're done. Though don't be surprised if breakfast isn't served until 4 in the afternoon the first few times. But after they realize by whatever means by whatever, they don't have time to push buttons... at least not many.