ArcaMax

Research finds that so-called “sippy cups” — spill-free cups used by most American preschoolers — are linked to speech problems as well as early dental issues.

A sippy cup’s spout depresses a child’s tongue, thus contributing to “lazy tongue” syndrome — sloppy “th” and “st” sounds. Pediatric dentists say that because ...Read more

Will my profession — psychology — ever get it?

Beginning in the 1960s, the psychological mainstream asserted that nearly all child mental health problems were caused by parents who did not allow children to express their feelings freely.

The claim was snatched out of the thin air of speculation, as usual.

Nonetheless, good parenting ...Read more

We interrupt this weekly column with a three-question quiz, following which you will find the correct answers.

1. True or false? Telling a child that her feelings concerning a decision you have made are irrelevant and that you will not discuss the matter with her is likely to cause psychological damage to the child, including trauma to her self...Read more

I wrote a book several years ago, "Grandma Was Right After All," in which I deconstructed the 25 most popular parenting adages of a bygone era.

They included: “You made this bed, so you and only you will lie in it,” “I knew if I gave you a long enough rope, you’d hang yourself,” and “You will have to stew in your own juices over ...Read more

Several columns past, I took to my bully pulpit and excoriated men who are married with children for being fathers first and husbands a distant second (maybe even third behind sports fans). My point, for those of you who are behind the curve here, is that children don’t need fathers who are striving, as are so many of today’s dads, to be ...Read more

Q: My 15-year-old daughter is slowly driving me insane! She argues with me about everything and always wants the last word. No matter how well I explain the “why?” of a decision to her, she argues. Even when I offer a compromise, she argues. It’s her way or the highway. Is there a solution?

A: Yes, but you may not like it. Solving this ...Read more

Q: My husband sometimes gives our very defiant 7-year-old daughter "prizes" for doing what she is told. The other night, for example, Juliette didn’t like what I chose for her to wear the next day to school and threw a mega-tantrum. I didn’t give in, but the next morning, she came downstairs saying she looked stupid and began weeping ...Read more

No small number of today’s parents view their children through psychological lenses, especially when it comes to misbehavior. Instead of regarding a given misbehavior as simply an error that needs to be corrected through the application of proper discipline, the parents in question interpret it.

“What does it mean?” they ask and proceed ...Read more

Q: I’m a working single mom with a 4-year-old daughter who won’t go to sleep unless I lie down with her. Plus, if she wakes up in the middle of the night to find I’m no longer in her bed, she comes and crawls into bed with me. If I attempt to persuade her to go back to her bed, she starts to cry. To be honest, I just don’t have the ...Read more

Many if not almost all of today’s parents believe in magic words. They do so because the mental health professional community has for 50 years or so told them children can be reasoned with, a claim that exposes the general lack of intellectual rigor in the mental health professions.

Magic words are words parents believe will magically change ...Read more