Home Page

Q: I have a 5-year-old who behaves well most of the time, but once in awhile she has these meltdowns over nothing. Anything can set it off. The other day she was trying to take a toy away from her younger sister and when I intervened, she got angry and started crying. Soon the crying turned into sobbing and nothing seemed stop it. I thought of sending her to her room, but that would only make it worse. It has happened in the past. How do I handle these meltdowns?

A: This is a great question because it leads into the whole issue of "soothing." Normally when you set a limit . . . .

. . . read more

Welcome to The Successful Parent, a free parenting website designed to help you successfully navigate the awesome responsibilities of child rearing. At The Successful Parent you will find information on child and adolescent development, parenting styles, and skills for dealing with specific problem areas. Our focus is to increase your knowledge base while offering real strategies you can use to put into practice what you learn. Our goal is to help you raise successful kids while enjoying the rewards of building a close, warm, and solid relationship with your children that will last a lifetime.

Discriminative Thinking vs. Being Judgmental by Barbara Frazier August 2009

A situation that I run into a lot when I see people in therapy is the problem of identifying behaviors they see as “bad” in others versus the desire not to “be judgmental.” In other words, someone who is a friend or acquaintance is doing something that you may not approve of, but you quickly censor your critical thoughts about this person because you don’t believe it is right to criticize others. You end up saying something like “everyone has their own way of doing things,” or “it’s not my place to judge others.”