Happy Families Blog

Are you raising children to love or fear you? Most parents have a deeper goal in mind for their children than mindless obedience. “I’m in my 40’s and I’m still afraid of my old man.”...

Hi Dr Justin, We have been asking friends, family members and even Dr Google (!) for help when it comes to dealing with our 3yr 10month old son. We also have a 1-year-old son, and we sometimes ...

The 'gentle reminder' is my number one discipline strategy for getting children's attention and getting things done. My friend Wally was talking with Jared, his neighbour, in Jared’s garage. ...

“Kids these days are out of control.” It’s the universal standard line about the state of our nation’s youth in many of our papers, from our radio talk-back hosts, and commentators of all ...

Disciplining other people’s children is a tough issue. It takes a village to raise a child, but does that mean we should tell our kids’ friends how to behave? The way we approach this situation...

Your 15 year-old son is hanging out in his bedroom with one of his mates. You are putting away the folding and give a quick tap on the door, open it, and walk in. You see your son’s friend ...

Time-out is one of the most popular “discipline” methods parents use. It works like this: a child does something that is ‘against the rules’ so the child’s parents punish the child by ...

In my last article I discussed a range of problems associated with smacking our kids. The article was designed to demonstrate that there is a lot of evidence that indicates that smacking kids ...

In my parenting classes and coaching sessions I am regularly confronted with people who become incredulous when I suggest that we need to stop hitting our kids if we want to discipline them ...

One of the most respected psychologists in the world today, Dr Martin Seligman, recently said: “(Teaching) children is vastly more than fixing what is wrong with them. It is about identifying ...