Early Childhood Site
	Nicki Heskin BellaOnline's Early Childhood Editor

Alternatives to Forced Apologies - First Steps
Forcing children to apologize may not always be the best path. Taking responsibility for causing harm and taking action to help may be a more important first step. Here are alternatives to making children apologize.

Alternatives to Forced Apologies - Making Amends
Forcing children to apologize may not always be the best path. Taking responsibility for causing harm and taking action to help may be a more important first step. Here are alternatives to making children apologize.

Disciplining Other People's Children
Here's some thoughts on those times when you may find yourself wanting or needing to intervene in the behavior of another person's child on the playground or other place. Specifically addresses physical or verbal hurting, unsafe behavior and inappropriate behavior.

Extreme Parenting
Some parenting choices may seem extreme, such as a video posted by a man in February 2012 shooting his daughter's laptop. But looking at the issues surrounding examples of extreme parenting, and finding common ground, despite differing parenting approaches, can help us examine our own choices.

Making Children Apologize
Should children be forced to apologize when they hurt another? Isn't it simply "good manners?" A discussion of the meaning of an apology and why "I'm sorry" may not always be the best expectation.

Managing Tantrums - Big Feelings
Before trying to address the cause of a tantrum, a focus on communication will help children to gain control of big feelings and find a more effective way to express those feelings.

Managing Tantrums - First Steps
The first step of managing public tantrums is assessing location. Only then can parents focus on changing the communication and moving towards addressing the cause of the tantrum.

Managing Tantrums - Focus on Communication
There are two discrete issues in every tantrum – the cause of the tantrum, and the problem of the tantrum itself. Before you (or your child) can deal with the former, you have to move away from the latter.

Modeling Manners and Courtesy for Young Children
Modeling good manners and courtesy is the most important way to teach our children these important life skills.

Power Struggles and Parental Anger
When your kids make you crazy, do you ever "plan" a way out? Games and humor to exit a power struggle with a young child can be one of the most effective ways to end conflict, reconnect, and ultimately create cooperation. Here's a couple ideas to diffuse parental anger during a power struggles.

Using Time-Outs with Young Children
Time-outs are an extremely common discipline tool to deal with unwanted behavior in children. The purpose of time-outs is to stop, and sometimes to punish, the behavior so that it won't happen again. Do time-outs work, and if not, what are the alternatives?

When Kids Say . . . It's Not Fair
"It's Not Fair!" is one of the more irritating declarations from children around 4-5 years and up. Here's some thoughts on how to address this complaint and ways to teach constructive rephrasing and some important life lessons as well.