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Tips of the Month for Families are regular tips for building strong relationships and healthy families. If you would like to sign up to receive these tips, scroll to the bottom of the page and sign up.

Teach Your Kids About Apology and Vulnerability

Both “Ouch, that’s hurtful” and “I’d like to apologize” are ways we make ourselves vulnerable — not always easy to do with our kids. To apologize — to admit that we erred — can seem like we’re giving up our power as parents, relinquishing our authority and losing our position.

How to Talk to Your Teens About Alcohol and Drug Use

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.

How to Talk to Your Teens About Alcohol

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.)

Try This, Maybe Your Child Will Start to Like Vegetables

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.

Ways to Show Your Kids How Friendships Matter

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.

Parents: Let Your Kids Know If They Hurt You

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."

Allow Your Children to Solve Their Own Problems

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.

How to Maximize Meaningful Time with Your Youngsters

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.