Sometimes offering support and making yourself available when the child or adolescent is ready to talk can be the most helpful you can be.

Spending time with the child or adolescent in mutually enjoyable activities on a regular basis will help to build warmth and trust.

One of the premises of parenting might be that the job of parents is to teach their kids to get along without them.

Once parents have a clear idea of their important parenting goals, beliefs, and values, they can then think about specific situations and identify the outcomes they would like to achieve in these situations. How can you be the parent you want to be whether or not your children are behaving as you would prefer?

People need to feel safe to talk without their ideas being criticized, judged, demeaned, or mocked.

Demonstrating faith and optimism in the child or adolescent's ability to work things out in their own time and in their own way can be very difficult but it is possible to do this while also offering assistance.

Somewhat paradoxically, parenting programs should focus on the behavior of the parents not the behavior of the children.