Parenting Tips

Most parents who crack down hard on lying believe they are teaching honesty. New research suggests the opposite can happen. A pair of studies from the National University of Singapore, published in the journal Child Development, found that children raised with strict, controlling discipline were more likely to lie and cheat as they grew, not […]

Teenagers are most motivated when a goal feels like their own, so the fastest way to kill drive is to take it over with nagging, bribes, or threats. Lasting motivation grows from three things: a sense of choice, a feeling of being capable, and a warm relationship with you. A sudden drop in motivation can

The “terrible twos” describes a normal stage when toddlers start asserting independence but do not yet have the language or self-control to manage big feelings. Meltdowns tend to peak between roughly 18 months and 3 years because the emotional part of a toddler’s brain develops faster than the part that handles impulse control. You can

For most of the past decade, gentle parenting was the default aspiration for a certain kind of modern parent: get down to your child’s eye level, talk through every feeling, swap time-outs for time-ins, and never be the kind of grown-up who barks “because I said so.” Now the mood has shifted. Gentle parenting has

Here is a finding worth holding onto the next time you are deciding whether it is worth the effort to get everyone out the door to the park: the days your preschooler spends playing outside may be quietly protecting their mental health years later. A new study tracking more than 4,000 children found that the

A wiggly baby tooth that loosens on its own and falls out can be within the normal range at 4, especially if your child got their baby teeth early. Most kids lose their first tooth around 6, but anywhere from 4 to 7 can be typical. The bigger question is not the age, it is

A speech delay and behavior problems in 4-year-olds are usually linked. When a child cannot find the words fast enough, the frustration tends to come out as hitting, biting, screaming, or meltdowns. The quickest way to calm the behavior is often to build the communication. An evaluation with a speech-language pathologist is the place to

Here is a finding that should make the nightly book at bedtime feel a little more worthwhile. A 2026 study published in the journal PLOS One found that just two weeks of daily bedtime reading measurably improved both empathy and creativity in young children. Even more surprising, it did not seem to matter whether parents

A large new study has reached a conclusion that reframes how scientists think about what shapes a child’s developing brain. After analyzing brain scans from nearly 12,000 children, researchers found that the single biggest environmental factor linked to brain structure and function was not a child’s IQ, parenting style, or health history. It was the

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no fruit juice at all before age 1, with one narrow exception sometimes used for constipation under a doctor’s guidance. After age 1, 100 percent fruit juice can fit into a balanced diet in small amounts: up to 4 ounces a day for ages 1 to 3, 4 to

Most children make their first letter-like marks between ages 3 and 4, write some recognizable letters around 4 to 5, and form simple words and short sentences by ages 5 to 6. Writing grows out of fine-motor and pre-writing skills, so scribbling, drawing, and copying shapes count as real progress, not just play. You can

Ask 5,472 American parents of young children what they actually want, and the answer that towers over everything else is not a parenting philosophy, a gadget, or a school. It is time. In the 2026 National Parent Survey, the largest nongovernmental survey ever conducted of US parents with children under six, 72 percent of parents

A heat wave does not just make swimming more appealing. It measurably raises the odds that a child drowns. That is the finding drawing fresh attention this month after at least 15 people, most of them children and teenagers, drowned in open water during a recent heat wave in the United Kingdom. Researchers studying nearly

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises moving a child out of the crib once they reach 35 inches tall or start climbing out, whichever comes first. For most kids that lands somewhere between 18 months and 3 years. If your child is safe and content in the crib, there is no rush. Sleep research consistently

Most American children start preschool at age 3 or 4, but readiness depends far more on development than on the calendar. There is no single right age. The signs that matter most: your child can separate from you without prolonged distress, follow simple directions, communicate basic needs, and handle short stretches of group activity. Starting

Eleven children have died in driveway and parking lot incidents in the United States in just 17 days, according to Kids and Car Safety, the national nonprofit that tracks deaths and injuries involving children and vehicles. The grim count comes as the first major heat wave of the season pushes temperatures into triple digits across

The days of handing your kid an iPhone and hoping for the best are about to get a serious upgrade. On June 8, Apple previewed a new suite of parental controls arriving this fall with iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, and the headline feature is one many parents have been requesting for years:

True sharing is a late skill. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that children under 3 cannot yet grasp the concept, first real sharing usually appears around age 3.5 to 4, and kids do not fully understand it until about 7 or 8. Forcing a young child to hand over a toy teaches compliance, not

Hitting peaks between roughly 18 months and 3 years because toddlers feel enormous emotions long before they have the words to express them. Research suggests about 70 percent of toddlers go through an aggressive phase. The most effective response is calm and boring: block the hit, name the feeling, state the rule once (“I will

School let out a couple of weeks ago, and for millions of American families the real bill is just arriving. Two-thirds of parents say they struggle to afford summer childcare, and nearly as many report going into debt to cover it, according to a LendingTree survey. More than 60 percent of parents surveyed spent upwards