MAIN Kids Health Child Development Behavior

Keeping your children healthy and well-fed is job No. 1.

But the challenges can be daunting when parents attempt to teach young toddlers how to deal with immediate and sometimes overwhelming emotion. As kids grow, the emotional storms intensify until the peak in the teen years.

There are no easy instruction manuals for raising children to be well behaved. There aren't even easy definitions for what that means.

Perhaps the best bit of advice from experts suggests that parents themselves serve as role models - as kids watch and learn.

Besides finding a playgroup for learning interaction among their peers, where can children find better patterns for the basic concepts of caring, sharing, and self-control than their parents?

On the flip side, kids may also quickly learn how to behave badly when overwhelmed parents allow negative behavior to take the upper hand.

As with other aspects of child development, learning how to "play well with others" at an early age is a skill set that can serve kids for a lifetime.

Around the Web, get more expert advice on keeping it all under control with tips on dealing with temper tantrums, time-outs, aggressive behavior, shyness, bullying, problems specific to the teen years plus more on behavior disorders and when to seek help ...

also see in Parenting -> 10 Rules for Good Parenting

More about children's behavior & social development around the Web:

Child Development Institute - Extensive library of guides for new parents with advice on dealing with the angry child, tips on socialization, building self-esteem, coping skills for shy kids, and tips for raising teens.

Emotions & Behavior - Another great collection of resources from KidsHealth.org with expert articles ranging from how to deal with temper tantrums and sibling rivalry, to coping with extraordinary situations including school violence, divorce, post-traumatic stress disorder and related issues.

Child Development Tracker - Developmental milestones for ages 1 to 8, including resources and parent guides to communicating with kids at any age, from PBSParents.

also see -> ADD / ADHD | Autism | Allergies | Teen Drinking