Author: Chien Liu
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How to Help Children Cope With Change: What the Research Says
Change is one of the most constant featuresof childhood — and one of the most challengingfor children to navigate. A new sibling,a house move, a school change, a familyseparation, the loss of a grandparent,a parent’s new job — children facesignificant transitions throughouttheir development, often withoutthe cognitive or emotional toolsto fully process what is happening. The…
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What Is Co-Parenting? A Research-Backed Guide for Separated Parents
Co-parenting — the ongoing collaborationbetween separated or divorced parentsin raising their shared children — isone of the most important and mostchallenging tasks that follows theend of a relationship. How well orpoorly separated parents co-parenttogether is one of the strongestpredictors of children’s long-termadjustment to family separation —more predictive than the separation itself. This article covers what…
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How to Talk to Your Child About Divorce: What the Research Says
Telling a child that their parents areseparating is one of the hardest conversationsa parent will ever have. Most parents approachit with the best intentions and very littleguidance about what actually helps — andwhat inadvertently makes things harderfor children. The research on children and divorce isextensive and specific. This article coverswhat children need to hear, when…
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What Is Authoritative Parenting? What the Research Actually Shows
Authoritative parenting is the most extensivelyresearched parenting style in developmentalpsychology — and the one with the strongest,most consistent evidence base across cultures,ages, and outcomes. It is also one of themost frequently confused with authoritarianparenting, which is something quite differentand produces significantly different outcomes. This article covers what authoritative parentingactually is, what the decades of researchbehind…
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How to Help a Child With Separation Anxiety: What the Research Says
Separation anxiety is one of the most commonconcerns parents bring to pediatricians —and one of the most frequently misunderstood.The child who clings at the school gate,who cannot sleep without a parent present,who becomes distressed at the thoughtof a parent leaving — these experiencesare common, developmentally normal atcertain ages, and genuinely distressingfor both child and parent.…
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How to Raise a Resilient Child: What the Research Says
Resilience — the capacity to adapt successfullyin the face of adversity, challenge, andsignificant stress — is one of the qualitiesparents most want for their children. It isalso one of the most misunderstood in termsof how it actually develops. The popular image of resilience as a fixedtrait — something children either have ordo not have, something…
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What Is Positive Discipline? What the Research Actually Shows
Positive discipline is one of the most widelyused terms in contemporary parenting — andone of the most variably understood. To someparents it means praising good behavior.To others it means discipline withoutpunishment. To others still it is a specificprogram developed by Jane Nelsen based onAlfred Adler’s individual psychology. The research on discipline — what it is,what…
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How to Deal With a Defiant Child: What the Research Says
Defiance is one of the most frustratingparenting experiences — and one of the mostcommon. A child who refuses to comply,who argues with every request, who pushesback against every limit, and who seemsto have an inexhaustible supply of “no”can exhaust even the most patient parent. The research on defiance in childrentells a more nuanced story than…
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What Is Gentle Parenting? What the Research Actually Shows
Gentle parenting is one of the most searchedparenting terms of the past decade — and oneof the most variably defined. To some parentsit means a warm, empathic, boundary-settingapproach grounded in developmental science.To others it means permissiveness, the absenceof consequences, or the endless negotiationof every limit. To its critics it produceschildren who cannot handle disappointmentor follow…
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How to Help Kids Make Friends: What the Research Says
Friendship is one of the most importantcontributors to children’s wellbeing —and one of the areas where parents feelmost helpless when things go wrong.Watching a child struggle to make friends,sit alone at lunch, or be left out ofsocial groups is among the most painfulexperiences of parenting. The research on children’s friendshipdevelopment is more specific and moreactionable…