How can I help my 14-year-old son turn his grades around, especially when he doesn’t see the need for getting assistance from me or anybody else? He’s been falling behind in school and recently brought home 2 “Ds.” I used to tutor him when he was younger, but for the last two years he’s refused …
Parenting Q&A
What are some of the child-rearing disagreements most likely to arise between first-time parents? We’re expecting our first child, and we’re trying to do everything we can to prepare ourselves before the fact. Can you give us some good advice?
What do you do about a kid who attacks other people with his teeth? Our strong-willed toddler has been displaying this negative behavior with increasing frequency over the past couple of months. How do we put a stop to it?
Is it important for families to eat together? Everyone in our household is busy with outside activities – school sports, church youth group outings, committee meetings, late nights at the office, ballet lessons, band practice, etc., etc. We rarely have time to sit down at the dinner table together. Meals are usually squeezed into the brief …
Can you give me some basic tips and pointers for “child-proofing” my house? Our toddler is highly energetic, extremely curious and unbelievably mobile. I’m wearing myself out just chasing her from room to room, trying to keep her from hurting herself.
How do I get my toddler to listen to me and do what I say? He’s right in the middle of the “terrible two’s,” and his favorite word is no. It seems he knows exactly what it takes to drive me up the wall. How should I handle this?
Do you have any advice for disciplining and training strong-willed teenagers? I hear a lot about dealing with strong-willed toddlers, but if you think it’s tough managing a defiant two-year-old, imagine what it’s like when the kid is seventeen and six feet tall! I need help.
What we do about a 14-year-old boy who ends up destroying something every time we require him to do a chore around the house? When asked to unload the dishwasher, he cracked a set of expensive glasses. When assigned to clear the driveway, he broke the snow shovel. We already know that he dislikes work …
Should parents come to the rescue when grown and married children need monetary assistance? Our daughter and her husband are struggling, and we’d like to help them out. But we don’t want to set an unhealthy precedent or cross a boundary. How do you think we should handle this?
How can a single mom find a man (or several men) capable of providing the masculine influence and guidance her children need as they approach puberty? I feel it’s important for them to have good male role models to look up to and learn from. Any ideas on how I should go about finding one?
Do you have any advice for parents about how to survive the teen years? I’m really getting worn down by the constant conflicts, mood swings and challenges to my authority. What should I do?
What should I expect from a child with a mental disorder? How can I know which behaviors he’s capable of controlling and which behaviors I should simply accept and make allowances for? We’re facing this situation with our teenage son, and we have no idea how to handle it. Can you help?
Is it normal for a pre-adolescent child to become nervous, uneasy, or afraid when mom and dad aren’t around? My daughter doesn’t want me to leave the house without her, and says she misses me when we’re apart. There have been no dramatic changes in our family life during the last few months, so I’m …
Can you tell us what changes we should expect as our child goes through puberty and enters adolescence — and how we should deal with them? I realize that this is likely to be a challenging time in our son’s life. I’m also assuming that my spouse and I will have to bear a large …
How should I help my unwed pregnant daughter?
What’s the best way to confront our teenage daughter with our discovery that she has become sexually involved with her boyfriend? We found an entry in her journal describing a sexual encounter. We can’t allow this behavior to go unaddressed, but we don’t want to create a wedge and close the door to future communication. …
Should I be worried when my preschooler talks about having a boyfriend? I wasn’t too concerned until recently when she and a boy of the same age kept going off into a corner of the yard “to be alone” as they played with other neighborhood kids. What do you think about this?
How do I know if my son is spending too much time playing online computer games? If I let him, I think he would waste all of his waking hours doing this. I’m concerned about the Internet horror stories I’ve heard, and I wish I could broaden his interests. Do you have any suggestions?
How can we help a young child who is struggling with his faith? Last night during our prayer time my young son tearfully confessed that he’s having trouble believing in God. How should I address this?
How can we raise our kids effectively when so many of our friends and family members hold perspectives and values that conflict with our beliefs? We’re a strong Christian family and we require our children to live by Christian standards of behavior. But not everyone shares our faith, and it’s frustrating to feel as if …
