Parenting Your Child Effectively

Sometimes we need something right now to help us calm an emotional discussion with our children. When things are difficult, we are most likely to "lose our cool" and say or do things that we wish later we hadn't. We need something that settles the conflict without either the child or the parent feeling put down. There are a number of guidance principles that help us discipline in stressful times.

Guidance Principle

Change the surroundings instead of the child's behavior. Adult/child difficulties sometimes happen because some part of the physical setting or surrounding is not right for young children, or because adults expect children to act older or more mature than they can.