As I navigate this world of parenting, I find myself actively trying to move away from the world of "stuff" and focus more on the things that matter most. I am far from mastering this goal, but I have come up with some guidelines that help me keep things in perspective.

We see it all the time. A child “acting up,” making a fuss in his stroller, or rolling on the floor bawling, because he wants something he is not getting. The bystanders are typically embarrassed by the situation, either assuming the parent is irresponsible for not attending to their child, or that the child is just an inherent nightmare. But where does child self-control come from?

This study drew upon the physiological model of stress and desensitization processes to deduce hypotheses linking the intensity of conflict communication and exposure to familial verbal aggression in childhood to experiences of conflict within romantic relationships. One hundred college-aged students (50 dating couples) participated in a dyadic interaction in which partners discussed a source of conflict in their romantic relationship.

The media tell us that love sports and beer and never talk about feelings. But what happens when these men become dads?  Does it matter if Dad doesn’t discuss emotions? (Mom can take care of it, right?) Are we really losing anything by not expecting men to be examples for their children of emotionally well-adjusted adults?

Before my son was born, a friend gave me the book, Babyproofing Your Marriage. The book was based on very traditional gender roles and a husband who expected his wife to have dinner on the table when he got home and justify why the house wasn’t clean when all she had to do was hang out with a baby all day. The advice they were giving wasn’t for us.

Even so, it turned out our marriage did need some babyproofing. Decisions we made about parenting turned into unanticipated challenges to our intimacy and partnership.

We catch children hiding the truth from the time they are quite young. Lying or keeping secrets is a defensive instinct that protects the child from too much vulnerability. Since a child's greatest need is to maintain closeness and connection with his parents, he has to avoid anything that would create separation. In order to stay inside the relationship, the child is driven to keep secrets to prevent these painful experiences of separation.

My daughters were 6 and 9 years old when their dad and I decided to separate. When we finally decided to voice the realities of separation, we realized that one of our main concerns was the children and how this new structure would affect them.

Often times it seems that dads don't get a lot of recognition, especially when their kids are babies. So in honor of my husband's milestone birthday this month, I thought I'd take a moment to tell the world why he is so invaluable to my children and me.

The #1 support call received by API is parents seeking resources while going through the physical separation and legal side of divorce. "Co-parenting" is the term used to describe the situation when children are parented by two individuals who are no longer in a marital or romantic relationship with one another. When children are a part of the divorce equation, parents quickly find out that co-parenting is critical for the kids' health and well-being. Co-parenting can be a challenge when one or borth of the adults practice Attachment Parenting.

Adults seem to have an easier time pointing fingers at child bullies than at adult bullies. There’s a notion that children are bullies by nature. Wrong. Adults often don’t realize that child bullying is learned from adults. Bullying attitudes are built into mainstream ideas about parenting. Don’t fall for them.

Bullies are paranoid and think that others are out to get them and so act aggressively to prevent harm to themselves.  “Prevent defense.”

Domestic violence can affect children even before they're born, indicates new research. The study is the first to link abuse of pregnant women with emotional and behavioral trauma symptoms in their children within the first year of life. Symptoms include nightmares, startling easily, being bothered by loud noises and bright lights, avoiding physical contact and having trouble experiencing enjoyment.

We all know about “mean girls:” They talk behind each other’s backs, exclude other kids just to be catty, and cut off friendships with no warning or explanation. But what about mean boys? New research finds that they might be even more common than we think. 

A disadvantage philosophers face when they take taxi rides or go to drinks parties is that answering the question ‘What do you do?’ generally brings the conversation screeching to a halt. One way to get things moving again is to mention a buzz word like ‘neuroscience’ or ‘psychotherapy’ or, of course, ‘love’. Not surprising, perhaps, given that love is the third most searched-for ‘what is’ question on Google’s list for 2014.

I recently read a list of 10 characteristics of love that grabbed my attention. In asking what it means to deeply love a person and what it means to love a place, Kathleen Dean Moore (2005, p. 35) found that the answers converge.

It’s a typical scene in a preschool classroom: Charlie and Lucy are each happily playing with their own toys when Lucy suddenly eyes Charlie’s toy and wants it, and she wants it NOW. Charlie, sees Lucy’s desire for his toy, doesn't get possessive but kindly extends it to her. Lucy snatches the toy, declaring “Mine!”, and runs off across the classroom to show her new toy off to her other friends. Charlie doesn't mind.