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4.5 year old who talks back

Question:

How should I handle a 4.5 year old who talks back to me?

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Laughter at Discipline

Question:

My husband and I bought your book "Positive Discipline A to Z" about two years ago and we have referred to it from time to time. It has helped here and there. However, there seems to be one thing I can't find in the book. Our two younger children laugh when we try to discipline them.

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Weaning from the Pacifier

I would like to know if you have any suggestions as to how to help get my children (21/2 and 41/2 years old) off of using a pacifier.

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Control or Cooperation

Are you trying to gain control over children or with children? Trying to gain control over children is hard. It takes constant effort. You have to be very vigilant to police the action of children so you can implement your control tactics—usually punishment and rewards. You have to catch children being “good” so you can reward them and catch them being “bad” so you can mete out the punishment. It never ends—and what happens when you are not around? If you are very good at being in control over children what have they learned? Have they learned self-discipline, respect for self and others, responsibility, problem-solving skills, cooperation?

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Positive Discipline in Egypt

Lynn Lott and I have been overwhelmed (in a good way), and excited about the spread of our Teaching Parenting the Positive Discipline Way DVD Training. It has now been purchased in 50 countries.

We were delighted to receive these photos from a group of women in Egypt practicing the experiential activities to receive their certificate as Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educators.

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Jobs: Why Teenagers Don't Do Chores And How To Use Follow-Through

How many times has your teenager broken a promise to mow the lawn, clean the kitchen, pick up towels on the bathroom floor before leaving for school, or to rinse his bowl before the cereal becomes glued to the surface? If you didn't answer, "Many times!" you don't have a normal teenager.

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My 13 year old daughter had a babysitting job last Saturday night.

Question:
My 13 year old daughter had a babysitting job last Saturday night. Sunday evening, the mother of the children phoned to tell me that my daughter had company over, four other friends to be exact, very shortly after the children went to bed and the people left for the evening. This is totally unacceptable, both to my husband and myself, not to mention the family hiring her to babysit. We have decided to ground her for one week and take away her privilege of using her own phone in her room (she can still use the phone in the kitchen—but she would lack privacy). My daughter thinks that we are being totally unreasonable on the punishment although she does realize that she has done wrong. The people have indicated that they will never have her over again to babysit and I don't blame them. What do you think? My husband and I are finding the teen years very difficult and we have only just begun.

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Bedwetting

Question

I have a 4-year-old son (he'll be 5 in 2 weeks) who is having a great deal of trouble staying dry at night. After he was first potty trained at around 3 1/2 he stayed dry at night and would get up by himself and go to the bathroom. About 6 months ago he started to wet the bed. He seems to go through intermittent spells of this. He may stay dry for several nights in a row and then wet the bed every night for a week.Lately the dry spells seem to be getting shorter and shorter. My husband and I try very hard not to make a big deal of this, but my son is very upset about it and it does make it hard for all of us to get a good nights sleep! What's our next step? Should we take him to a urologist? Could anxiety be causing this?

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Spanking Your Child

Question:

I am doing a paper for a class I am in. I was wondering what you think about spanking your child. Do you think it is wrong? If so please specify. Thank you.

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Misbehaving when we have company over

Dear Jane...

Once again I write to you seeking advice. My husband and I are trudging through your "positive disciplne" book. We've recently set up charts and are really trying hard to get the children involved in the problem solving....here's another quest for you...recently we moved to a new town...my son will be starting school in 3 weeks (jr k).

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Online Learning

Positive Discipline offers online learning options for parents, teachers, and parent educators. Learn in the comfort of your own home and at your own pace. You have unlimited access to our online streaming programs, so you can watch and re-watch the videos as often as you like.

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