Parents Q&A

"My child whines and it is driving me crazy. Punishment and bribery haven't worked. Does it sound like I'm whining? Please help!"

Question:

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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).

Question:

I am having problems with my 2nd grade son. Recently, he was suspended from riding the bus after hitting another child back after this kid hit him. My son was suspended for 7 days, while the other child received no discipline at all.

Dear Jane:

I have some questions on how to deal with my partner's five-year-old son and am hoping you will be able to provide me with some insight. We have been living together for 5 1/2 months and I am having huge difficulty adjusting to his son, being around half-time (he and his ex have joint custody).