by Vimala McClure.

Acceptance is the hallmark of many Eastern teachings. Author Melodie Beattie says, "Acceptance is the magic that makes change possible." You are able to make the space for change if you accept and validate what is. The opposite of acceptance and validation is judgment and denial, which make us tense up, lose our center, criticize ourselves and others, and hold impossible standards for everyone. When we are being judgmental, we invalidate ourselves and others.

by Susan Winston.

Twenty-four of us sat nervously on unforgiving wooden benches. It was a day of mixed emotions. We all knew that behind our own personal happiness was a deeply disturbing practice here in China, a quiet genocide that yearly claims the lives of thousands of female babies and children. This was the day my husband, Jim, and I were to adopt our daughter, Nikki Kate Winston.

by Robert Rabbin.

During the first few months of 2003, I was taught something remarkable by 123 children, from 2 to 13 years of age. There is something remarkable about kids: they experience life in a way that expresses deep and profound wisdom. Their wisdom is born of their own connection to life and to living things.

by Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D. & Jeannine Lemare Calaba, Psy.D.

How do you help your child achieve a positive sense of worth? By teaching him how to appreciate himself. Do this by: 1. First, no matter how your child is behaving, find something within him to value and be grateful for. 2. Then, point out to your child the specific quality or action you are appreciating about him.

by John Izzo, Ph.D.

Children seem able to find wonder in the simplest of things ? an unusual bug on the sidewalk, a puddle that is particularly deep, a small paper airplane. As we age, somehow our capacity for awe and wonder is diminished, just as our skin loses its elasticity. So how do we recapture the experience of wonder?

by Morton & Barbara Kelsey

Let's look at some concrete examples of how parental attitudes tend to shape children's sexual identities. Certainly the lack of emotional affection and touch in many homes causes some youngsters to fail to relate sexuality and affection and such parental modeling can cause later sexual confusion. How parents treat the sexual interests and play of children can also have a profound effect upon the adult lives of those children.

by Dean Van Leuven.

We use anger in disciplining our children because we become upset by what they do, and we then become angry. We then tend to mix our anger in with the lessons we are trying to teach the child. But when we mix the 'lesson' with our anger, we end up teaching our child that it's okay to respond with anger to things that upset us. When we respond with anger, the child learns anger.

by Annette Geffert and Diane Brown.

Adolescence is an amazing time, filled with countless opportunities and challenges for your daughter. She is facing many of the decisions that will shape her adult life. To successfully handle these potentially life-altering situations, she needs a strong internal decision-making center.

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

One of the oldest pieces of advice for families is the Fifth Commandment of Moses: 'Honor your father and your mother,' which continues, 'that your days may be long in the land...' This is the only one of the Ten Commandments that includes a blessing and a promise.

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

It is one thing to read (or write) about bringing up children, and quite another to actually do it. Words are easy to come by; so are anecdotes and suggestions. Yet without deeds, the soundest educational theory is useless...

by Johann Christoph Arnold.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.  Vast numbers of children are endangered by a one-sided approach that sees them solely in terms of their ability to be fruitful -- that is, to achieve and succeed.

by Dr. Brenda Davies.

Don't be hard on yourself or anyone else, but see that some of these games have been handed down for centuries like family heirlooms. Every one of them can be righted, and often the first major step is to recognize them and refuse to...