A lot of parents aren't exactly sure how to go about solving a problem with a kid in a way that's mutually satisfactory - doing that with their child feels very foreign to a lot of people. It probably explains why so many parents tell me their kids don't listen to them and why so many kids tell me that they don't feel heard.

It's so crucial to really get a good handle on what's getting in the way of the kid completing a homework assignment. It can be so many things.

The idea that we can take this lump of clay and mold it into a form of our choosing is absolutely ludicrous.

You want to teach all kids the skills that are on the better side of human nature: empathy, appreciating how one's behavior is affecting other people, resolving disagreements in ways that do not involve conflict, taking another's perspective, honesty.

If we're sitting at dinner and there's no conversation going on because everybody's got their head someplace else in their iPhone, that's a family problem that needs to be solved.

There is still quite the vibe out there that as a parent you have to be completely in control and in charge.

Kids are overprogrammed these days.