Emotions and behavior

Help your child recognize the presence of particular emotions and then, over time, encourage them to explore different ways of responding to them.

You can’t force your children to behave well, but you can decide what you will do if they don’t. Share your plan in advance, hold firm, and watch them grow!

Instead of lecturing, create the space your child needs to consider the ethical consequences of their actions and learn right from wrong the natural way.

When a child is struggling, try attaching their emotion to someone or something else and then role play with it in a low-stakes kind of way.

A little lighthearted humor teaches your child that laughter and foolishness are great ways to melt away disappointment, frustration, and anger.

Isn’t it amazing that little children could come out of a concentration camp more concerned about feeding their companions than feeding themselves?

To help your child avoid depression, help them develop strong relationships, become deeply engaged in activities, and discover purpose and meaning.

The classic example of natural discipline at work is when a child learns to not touch a hot stove by … touching a hot stove. Lesson learned!

The next time you’re about to offer praise to your child, consider a question or observation as great way to not only share your approval but also promote your child’s awareness of their own accomplishment and their interest in building on it.

Just as your four-year-old will not remember that wonderful visit you had at Grandma’s house, she also will not remember the time you were so frustrated, stressed, or sleep deprived that you screamed at her.

What we really want is for our children to make good decisions and act responsibly on their own. Right now, though, they’re still in the process of developing the skills they need to be able to make good choices. They need our help.

The idea is simple: Before correcting your child, take time to connect with him or her.

You can help your child learn to manage their emotions by arranging experiences that stretch their abilities just the right amount.

Our kids are seeing us fight, but they’re not seeing us make up. They’re seeing the conflict, but they’re not watching how we resolve the conflict.

You know empathy is important for you and your child, but is it really something you can get better at? Yes, it is! Here’s one tried-and-true method.

Our behaviors and decisions arise out of a kind of conversation between two parts of our brain: the lower limbic and upper limbic systems. The quality of that conversation has everything to do with the kind of life we will

  My daughter taught me something about temperament in the first minute of her life. She was born on Thanksgiving Day, with meconium stuck in her throat. Meconium is a goopy material that can prevent children from breathing. It obviously

Labeling is a powerful coping strategy. Studies show that labeling a negative emotion helps you to regulate (that is, calm down), while labeling a positive emotion reinforces it.

Five years ago, Google executives were curious: Why did some Google teams perform well, while others stumbled? They hoped, by getting to the bottom of this question, to improve team performance and thus further boost the company’s already impressive achievements.