Six tips on how to reach children through our actions.

"I just finished reading David Sheff’s book Beautiful Boy (I know, I’m five years behind in my reading). It’s about his painful struggle to help his son through meth addiction.

"I have clients who are experiencing similar struggles, and to be honest, there’s a part of me that feels slightly anxious when I meet with them, and I have to work to manage this countertransference. What’s happened to their children represents one of my biggest fears for my own child as she grows up.

It’s a trend that people who’ve taken early childhood education courses and psychology experts can easily identify: today’s kids just aren’t as empathetic as kids from previous generations. Many people blame technology for the loss of compassion, and research is beginning to suggest that they may be right. Researchers who reviewed 72 studies over the period between 1979 and 2009 found that millennials scored up to 40 percent lower on tests of empathy than did previous generations. The biggest drop in empathy scores occurred after the year 2000.

We know that breastfeeding has a positive impact on child development and health - including protection against illness. Now researchers from Tel Aviv University have shown that breastfeeding may also help protect against Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioral disorder in children and adolescents.

As daguerreotypes became available, women began to pose breastfeeding their infants, capturing them in this most essential of maternal roles.

Attachment parenting isn’t at all a new phenomenon. Nor is it just another variation of helicopter parenting, itself somewhat of a misnomer and often confused with parental involvement in a child's life. Attachment parenting has a solid theoretical basis in one of the most widely accepted theories of personality-social development in all of psychology - namely, the attachment theory of Mary Salter Ainsworth and her colleagues. Over the past 30+ years, attachment theory has become the centerpiece of extensive research on healthy personality, relationships, and even occupational development.

Researchers at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital have developed a new tool that analyzes the cries of babies, searching for clues to potential health or developmental problems. Slight variations in cries, mostly imperceptible to the human ear, can be a “window into the brain” that could allow for early intervention.

A recent study published in the journal Psychological Science found that partners’ early childhood attachment styles impacted their ability to recover from conflict in their adult couple relationships. Partners with secure attachment styles in childhood tended to be more resilient and recover faster.

Some premature babies have trouble bonding due to neurological impairments, not due to the way their parents interact with them, say researchers.

"If you're a parent on the internet, you've likely heard of a parenting philosophy called 'Attachment Parenting' or 'AP'. You've also likely developed a strong opinion about it, one way or the other. Proponents of AP swear by its principles and credit it with fostering healthy, balanced, secure children; while its critics revile it as overly permissive, too difficult to maintain, and even anti-feminist. Allow me to reveal my bias: I'm a proponent. As with most aspects of the 'Mommy Wars,' there is little middle ground...or is there?"

[VIDEO] Almost one in four American children are living in poverty, according to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The long-term consequences of childhood poverty are bleak to say the least, but the report has a clear-cut policy recommendation to address this issue: invest in interventions that focus on early childhood development.

[VIDEO] Parenting styles and techniques are subjects that can be debated and researched maybe more than any other. But one approach has recently gotten some national attention in both good and bad ways.

Attachment Parenting is not a new concept. It was based on attachment theory which came about after World War II when homeless and orphaned children showed difficulties functioning in society and a propensity toward violence while growing up and as adults.

"I’m a big advocate for AP after my positive experience with it. Many people are still confused about what AP entails, so I’ve compiled a list of what AP is and is not."

Spare the rod and lower the crime rate? There is a growing body of data suggesting such a link.