By forcing myself to be more honest than I'd ever previously dared, I realized how I was contributing to the arguments with my son. As one therapist put it, "He's provocative, and you're reactive."

Someday I hope to uncover a grand theory that unifies all of my life's pursuits, but for now, I'm content finding a few parallels between being a writer and a stay-at-home dad.

Praising, which is a marvelous thing when it is merited and sincerely given, has become as freely distributed in the schools and playgrounds as cake at a birthday party.

In this culture of severely distorted eating and body image, getting the best of one's kids is going to mean trying over and again to listen, to pay attention and to talk.

I'm getting a lot of flack about friends lately. Kids are complaining they don't have any. Parents are concerned their children don't have enough, or have too many disagreements with the ones they do have.

How can parents avoid raising spoiled brats and develop fiscally responsible children who have healthy relationships with money?

If you understand that the brain is interested foremost in survival, and that the brain has a deep need for relating to others, the things that best develop your baby's brain will make sense.

Last week I ran into a young woman (I'll call her Marielle) on the street. She reminding me that I'd precipitated a turning point in her relationship with her mother -- and in her life.

All kids need rules, but every brain is wired differently, so you need to know your kid's emotional landscapes inside and out -- and adapt your discipline strategies accordingly.

Consider what today's parents face -- the corporate influence, billions of dollars of advertising, and a banking technology that has taught children that money doesn't grow on trees, it comes flying out of ATMs.

I'd like my kids to get used to the fact that in the real world there will not always be something specifically intended to entertain them. Except now there is.

Every day, I find wisdom through others or through my own actions. I try to remember to pass this wisdom along to my children, hoping they will carry this information with them as they navigate through a very complex world.

I am a mother who does not have a strong conviction that there is one fixed, right way of raising children. Often times I second-guess my own choice in a situation, and wonder if I could have found a better way of parenting.

As our children become couch potatoes, we often focus on how this contributes to childhood obesity, but we overlook how it also contributes to a constrained mental outlook and a character of artifice.

The child's realization that you can't always read his or her mind coincides with the flowering of something we call Theory of Mind skills.

Teenagers still need their parents as guides and advisers -- not friends. The more you define yourself as her parent and show her what is and isn't acceptable, the sooner things between you and your daughter will improve.

My primary focus right now is on my son. At one and a half, he needs me the most. But even with this narrow set of objectives, there will be days when I fail.

The Baby Boomers have given their Generation Y/Millennials freedom from responsibility and accountability for their actions. They have moved past indulging them directly to spoiling them.