Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids

Parents can play a major role in helping or hindering children's development of emotional regulation skills; the factors that make emotion regulation difficult for kids; techniques for teaching children to understand and cope with their feelings.

When a child's responses to threats are more intense than the situation warrants, anxiety can become a serious problem; practical ways to help children learn to cope with what triggers and accompanies anxiety; anxiety's physical manifestations.

Learning how to respond constructively to children's anger; how to help kids learn to manage and communicate it in healthy, non-aggressive ways; practical strategies for inspiring cooperation from kids of various ages; avoiding power struggles.

Discovering the important developmental changes that occur in children's self-concepts over time; how parents can support self-esteem at each stage; taking an in-depth look at the core components of authentic self-esteem at any age.

The three interwoven strands of empathy, which are affective resonance, cognitive perspective-taking and motivation for compassionate behavior; ways to help children develop empathy; challenging empathy exceptions; giving kids a path forward.

Parents can help children develop skills that contribute to happiness; strategies for supporting kids in building a life that incorporates pleasure, engagement and meaning; how to relish positive experiences; breaking free from perfectionism.

Tracking the changes that happen in children's friendships, as they move from their childhood to their teenage years; discovering the three key ingredients of friendship formation; investigating ways to support a child's social development.

Exploring the stages of how children learn to play; the variety of children's pretend play; its social and emotional importance; what experts say about war games and roughhousing; games with rules; how to help a child handle winning and losing.

Looking at the reasons why children argue with friends; the methods through which they resolve their differences; the ways by which one can support their child as they go through the frustration and heartache of a conflict or breakup.

What makes some children popular; why some kids have trouble getting along; the characteristics linked to four research-based categories of social status that children might fall into; exploring the hidden risks of popularity; the role of gossip.

The long-term effects of bullying for both the target and the bully; what distinguishes bullying from ordinary meanness; how bullying differs among boys and girls; practical strategies to use if a child is the target or perpetrator of bullying.

The parallels between online and face-to-face behaviors; how anonymity changes the bullying game; the risky behaviors children engage in online; how parents can mitigate those risks and educate their children so they navigate the web safely.