BC 1-2-3-magic
Thomas W. Phelan's "1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12" — the simple, evidence-based 3-step parenting program for controlling obnoxious behavior, encouraging good behavior, and strengthening parent-child relationships. Covers 5 use cases: ① The 1-2-3 Counting method — ("how to count kids" "1-2-3 discipline" "stop bad behavior" "counting technique" "discipline without yelling") ② Stop behavior management — ("whining" "tantrums" "sibling rivalry" "arguing" "backtalk" "defiance" "public meltdowns") ③ Start behavior encouragement — ("morning routine" "bedtime battles" "chores" "homework" "cleaning up" "getting ready") ④ The 3 Jobs of Parenting — ("controlling obnoxious behavior" "encouraging good behavior" "strengthening relationships" "parenting framework") ⑤ Testing & manipulation — ("child manipulation" "testing parents" "six types of testing" "consistent discipline") Trigger when users say: "1-2-3 magic" "Thomas Phelan" "discipline" "parenting help" "toddler discipline" "child behavior" "stop whining" "tantrums" "sibling fighting" "kids won't listen" "parenting strategy" "positive discipline" "how to count" "obnoxious child" "bedtime battles"
Thomas W. Phelan's "1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12" — the simple, evidence-based 3-step parenting program for controlling obnoxious…
As a process C 57/100 · Has gaps — weak spots: result and completion, inputs and preconditions, failures and branches
How to improve
- Shorten the description to 1024 characters.
- Your own cases (evals/evals.json, 4–6 real requests with expected answers): the full check would then run those instead of a model-drafted suite.
- A spec.yaml with trigger phrases and assertions — a behaviour contract for CI; `skilltest init` writes a template.
Guard findings · 0
✓ No critical or high findings
Files scanned: 8. Evidence is masked. Grey chips explain why severity was lowered.
Against the Agent Skills spec
- error
description-longdescription is 1177 chars, limit 1024
Process rating: all ten parameters 57/100
- 0Result and completion. Does not say what the result is
- 0Inputs and preconditions. Does not say what the process needs to start
- 0Failures and branches. Linear process with no failure handling
- 0Progress reporting. Says nothing while it works
- 30Running it twice. 2 mutating operations with no state check
- 70When it triggers. States when to use, but not when not to
- 100Tools and files. No external tools needed
- 100Steps. 33 steps
- 100Consistency. Name and required fields are in place
- 100Execution cost. Instruction body is 1911 tokens
Everything here is measured from the skill text rather than judged by a model, so the numbers are checkable. A parameter weighs more when it is a more common reason for the process to stall.
Quality signals
- +4Description does not say when NOT to use the skill (false activations)
- +3Description length 1177: 120–800 characters recommended
- +3Output format is not stated: the model decides each time
- +2Single-language instructions
- +5Description quotes 42 example trigger phrases
- +4Structure: 7 headings
- +3Step-by-step instructions: 33 items
- +4Has examples (1 code blocks)
- +4Reference files are cited in the instructions (4 of 5)
- +1License stated
Quality base 70; lint remarks subtract, signals add up to 100. Result: 66.