Category: Early Childhood Development

Toddler tantrums are one of the mostuniversal — and most exhausting —experiences of early parenting.The child who was happily playingone moment is on the floor screamingthe next. The parent who was calmlygoing about their day is suddenlymanaging a full emotional stormin the middle of the supermarket. The research on toddler tantrumstells a story that is…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Attachment parenting is one of the most discussed —and most debated — parenting philosophies of thepast three decades. Its advocates describe it asthe most natural, responsive, and developmentallysound approach to raising children. Its criticsdescribe it as exhausting, guilt-inducing, andbased on a misreading of attachment science. The research tells a more nuanced story thaneither camp fully…