Many parents complain of talking to their kids “until they are blue in the face,” and often to no avail. You may feel that way yourself, and sometimes it applies to us all. There are definite ways to increase and optimize your child’s receptivity to what you say in almost any situation. Not only that, by using certain rules of communication, you can preserve and enhance your child’s self image while also being heard. Here’s my top 10 communication guidelines.

Praise is one of the most powerful tools we have for increasing a child's positive sense of self. Actually, everyone can benefit from receiving praise if it is served up correctly. It seems simple enough to give praise, but in actuality if praise is not offered correctly, it can actually have the opposite effect of that intended. There are some specific rules for giving praise that will insure that it hits the mark and has the intended effect of reinforcing a child's self esteem.

One of the greatest challenges to a marriage is co-parenting, especially when the parenting styles of each of the parents are quite different, or worse yet, in direct opposition to each other. In my work with couples, this issue comes up more than any other single issue that couples bring in to marriage counseling. I have also noticed that the article on "parenting styles" is one of the most read articles on our website. So what makes this issue such a hot topic among couples?

One of the biggest complaints I hear from parents is that they can't get their kids to do chores. The problems they cite include procrastination, forgetfulness, distraction, not finishing, doing something halfway or not well, and worst, just plain defiance as in ignoring the request and refusing to do it. The compliance issue is a little more complicated than the other problems, and I'll address that later in the article. For starters, let's list the main factors that can help lead to success.

Some great research has been done (16 years worth) by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University on the effect of frequent family dinners on teens' use of drugs and alcohol. The list of findings below come from The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents which CASA released on 08/19/10.