children

How can parents determine "what's going on?" It starts with conversation. Say: "I've noticed changes in your behavior lately that concern me. I want to understand what's going on." Hang in patiently, without anger, if your son or daughter begins with little or nothing to say.

Most 6-year-olds know that alcohol is for adults only. But once they hit the tween years (9 to 12) and beyond, many are willing to give it a try. That's why it's never too early to talk with youngsters about the dangers of underage drinking. (Studies show that teens say they rely on adults in their lives to help them make tough decisions. That's our cue to step in.)

As many as 50% of children are considered picky eaters, resisting all kinds of foods — vegetables in particular — that would be beneficial for them. Psychologists have tried for years to discover ways to help these kids accept the foods that they resist with such determination. One approach has found more research support than any other over the past decade: repeat exposure.

The Roman author, Cicero, had no way of knowing that 2,000 years after he expressed those words, science would find solid evidence that friendship is indeed a key ingredient in the lives of the happiest — and healthiest — people.

Consequences — a catchword of modern parenting. Time-out is a consequence. So is docking allowance, withholding privileges, grounding from social life. The conundrum, of course, is knowing what the right consequence should be to fit the "crime."

Remember the quiet ache the first time you left your little one with a babysitter, or at daycare, or at school that first day? It's as tough for parents to loosen the emotional umbilical cord as it is for our youngsters, but we do it because we know we must — so they can grow and develop in many important ways.

Has it ever been harder to get our kids' attention? What chance do we have going up against their computer or iPod or handheld device? The solution some parents have discovered is the long car ride.

As more couples divorce at mid-life or beyond, adult children of divorce represent a significant and growing segment of the population. While research and intervention efforts have focused on young children who still live in the family home at the time of their parents’ divorce, adult children who experience the pain of their parents’ divorce after leaving the family home also experience difficulty.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy (September, 2011), researchers have identified a syndrome of daytime behaviors that imitate Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) but seem linked instead to a lack of consistent bedtime routines and not to a child's brain chemistry.