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Preparing Your Little One for the Separation While You Birth the New Baby

Many women worry about leaving their older child when they go to the hospital to give birth to their baby. It doesn't help that labor is by definition unpredictable in both timing and length, making it even harder to prepare a child who is often little more than a baby himself.

Does Baby Einstein Actually Lower IQ?

Although sophisticated advertising claims the DVDs teach babies to understand and speak earlier, no independent research has supported this claim. Recently, however, a University of Washington study of 8- to 16-month-old babies reported that the babies who watched baby DVDs understood FEWER words than those who did not watch them.

Putting Positive Discipline into Practice

Positive Discipline starts by having a good relationship with your child, so that he responds to gentle guidance as opposed to threats and punishment. The most effective discipline strategy is to make sure your child wants to please you.

Celebrating Planet Earth with Your Kids

Parents often ask me how to help kids develop good values. Quite simply, kids learn what they live. Tomorrow is Earth Day, which would give us a perfect opportunity, if we weren't already so busy. Want to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem?

15 Everyday Strategies to Teach Your Child Values

Talk explicitly about your values and why they are important to you. What IS integrity? Why is respectful behavior important in a church, synagogue or mosque? Helping children interpret the world is a crucial responsibility of parents.

Help Your Child Develop Good Judgment

But no one is born with good judgment and the ability to make wise decisions. Good judgment and decision-making skills develop from experience combined with reflection. Your goal is to give your child experience in making decisions, and make sure she has the opportunity to reflect on them and learn.

Positive Discipline

Ultimately, love is the only leverage we have with our children. Even if they worked, fear and "Because I say so!" only last for as long as they can be physically enforced. Every parent knows how fast children grow; fear works for a very short time if it works at all. Love, on the other hand, becomes a more effective motivator over time.

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To Spank or Not to Spank?

If your parents used spanking as a discipline method growing up, you may have reconciled yourself to their behavior by justifying it: You came out ok. You may even think there is no other choice for managing kids who are "a handful." How else do kids learn?