Parents are led to believe that they must be consistent, that is, always respond to the same issue the same way. Consistency is go...od up to a point but your child also needs to understand context and subtlety . . . much of adult life is governed by context: what is appropriate in one setting is not appropriate in another; the way something is said may be more important than what is said. . . .LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As your baby progresses from one milestone to the next, remember that he doesn't really leave any of them behind. In order to grow... and develop to his full potential he must continually build on and strengthen all of the steps that have gone before.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If your child is going to develop a healthy personality with the capacity to remain intact and grow, she must learn how to test re...ality, regulate her impulses, stabilize her moods, integrate her feelings and actions, focus her concentration and plan.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Although pretend play is important, it is still the means to an end, not the end itself. Do not make the mistake of thinking a con...trived, pretend drama can substitute for real interpersonal comfort in dealing with important emotional issues.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Setting limits gives your child something to define himself against. If you are able to set limits without being overly intrusive ...or controlling, you'll be providing him with a firm boundary against which he can test his own ideas.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Even if you find yourself in a heated exchange with your toddler, it is better for your child to feel the heat rather than for him... to feel you withdraw emotionally.... Active and emotional involvement between parent and child helps the child make the limits a part of himself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In order to feel good about himself, a child must be successful in his own eyes, not just in your eyes. Self-esteem is an inner fe...eling: Sometimes it corresponds with outer reality, and sometimes it doesn't.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A new world of complex relationships and feelings opens up when the peer group takes its place alongside the family as the emotion...al focus of the child's life. Early peer relationships contribute significantly to the child's ability to participate in a group (and in that sense, society), deal with competition and disappointment, enjoy the intimacy of friendships, and intuitively understand social relationships as they play out at school, in the neighborhood, and later in the workplace and adult family.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
To be motivated to sit at home and study, instead of going out and playing, children need a sense of themselves over time--they ne...ed to be able to picture themselves in the future.... If they can't, then they're simply reacting to daily events, responding to the needs of the moment--for pleasure, for affiliation, for acceptance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If the child knows the rewards and punishments in advance and knows that his parents will stick to them, the parents can actually ...empathize with the child's plight while, at the same time, creating a firm sense of structure.... Your child will sense your resolve and your empathywhether you do this with words or just a sense of warmth.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »