John's Articles
Solve Behavioral Issues With Good Leadership
Posted on 4/4/2023
The question parents most frequently ask begins “What should I do when my child…?” and closes with a description of a vexing behavior, as in, “What should I do when my child bites the family...
Read MoreLeadership, Not Friendship
Posted on 2/28/2023
Q: I recently read an article by a parenting expert who said adults need to earn the respect of children. That seems like one more progressive attempt to undermine parental authority. I...
Read MoreWho Decides Choices — Parent or Child?
Posted on 2/21/2023
My wife and I were enjoying an evening out in one of our favorite restaurants when a family of three—mother, father, girl of perhaps four—were shown to a table next to ours. Immediately, the...
Read MoreLeadership vs Discipline
Posted on 9/20/2022
A mother recently asked my advice concerning a discipline problem she was having with one of her children. I asked her to define the word discipline. She thought a moment and answered, “Well,...
Read MoreThe Age of Parenting Enlightenment
Posted on 4/26/2022
America entered what I call the Age of Parenting Enlightenment around 1970. That was the year, or thereabouts, when parents stopped listening to their elders when it came to childrearing matters...
Read MoreParents Can Recover From Not Getting Over the 'Hump of Parenting'
Posted on 10/20/2020
Q: In a recent column, you identified toddlerhood as “the hump of parenting.” As a grandmother who managed to raise five kids who were out of the house in their early twenties and are responsible...
Read MoreHere's a Real Head Banger Issue
Posted on 7/14/2020
Q: When my two-year-old gets angry, he sometimes gets down and bangs his head on the floor. This happens two or three times a week, generally speaking. He’s not bruised himself, yet, but I don’t...
Read MoreThe Biggest Mistakes Parents Make (and How to Stop Making Them!) - Part 3
Posted on 2/19/2020
This concludes my three-part series on the Ten Biggest Mistakes Parents Make (and how to stop making them!). For the first two columns in the series, go to johnrosemond.com. The mistakes covered...
Read MoreThe Biggest Mistakes Parents Make (and How to Stop Making Them!) - Part 1
Posted on 2/4/2020
One of the “secrets” to a happy, healthy emotional life is to identify one’s bad, nonproductive habits and replace them with habits – slowly built – that are functional. That same principle is of...
Read MoreToday's Parents Afraid Kids Won't Like Them
Posted on 8/13/2019
Short questions I’ve been asked of late (mostly by journalists) and proportionately short answers: Q: Is there a single most important thing parents should be teaching during their children’s...
Read MoreAlpha Speech: Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say
Posted on 8/6/2019
Q: Some friends of ours who’ve read a couple of your books and attended one of your talks told us that they solved some major discipline problems with their 4-year-old just by using what they...
Read MoreBoys Need Fathers, Not Friends
Posted on 6/14/2019
I recently spent some time with a friend who has three children. My buddy is a college-educated responsible guy who has never failed to do right by his family. He's masculine but not macho,...
Read MoreUse 'Alpha Speech' to Get Child to Obey
Posted on 5/14/2019
Q: My 7-year-old son, an only child, is giving me fits. He’s overly active and will not cooperate in any instruction I give him. In addition, if I tell him not to do something, it’s a guarantee...
Read MoreFoundation to Parenting Begins With Marriage
Posted on 10/31/2018
In an opinion piece recently featured on FoxNews.com, Jonathan Pokluda explicates his Ten Habits of Extraordinary Parents. Pokluda, a teaching pastor at a mega-church in Texas, and his wife are in...
Read MoreAdults, Children Must Maintain Relationship Boundaries
Posted on 6/20/2018
A column of mine that originally appeared in January of 2017 has been circulating on the Internet ever since, accumulating over a million hits to date. In a nutshell, its message is simply that...
Read MoreThe Three Seasons of Raising Children
Posted on 6/1/2018
In the early 1960s, songwriter/folk singer Pete Seeger wrote "Turn, Turn, Turn," which was later rocked up and made popular by The Byrds. The refrain was taken from The Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1,...
Read MoreDon't Take Daughter's Dramatic Outbursts Seriously
Posted on 5/9/2018
Q: My 4-year-old daughter, when I do something that upsets her, like reprimand her for something, begins to cry and tell me that I don’t love her anymore. (She’s actually very obedient and...
Read MoreToday's Parents Don't Know How to Properly Convey Authority
Posted on 1/17/2018
Four sentences into her Wall Street Journal article on recent research into spanking (“Spanking for Misbehavior? It Causes More!” December 17, 2017), the author, Susan Pinker, makes two grievous...
Read MoreRespect Is Claimed, Not Owed by a Father
Posted on 12/26/2017
Is a father owed respect from his children? Actually, the question, from a father, was rhetorical: Isn’t a father owed his children’s respect? The dad in question maintains that because he loves...
Read MoreIf I Were the Little League Czar
Posted on 3/27/2017
It has been 78 years since the first Little League baseball game was played in Williamsport, Pa. Last year, nearly 3 million kids participated in more than 6,500 chartered Little League programs...
Read MoreSuccess Is a Matter of Character, Not Grades
Posted on 2/15/2017
There must be some relationship between aging and the “You’ve got to be kidding me!” response, if I am any indication, that is. What was once occasional has become almost daily. ...
Read MoreParenting 101
Posted on 1/9/2017
<i><b>Welcome to Parenting 101. Upon passing this course, you will have acquired what it takes to raise children who are mannerly, self-disciplined and do their best in school. As you will see,...
Read MoreThe Effects of 'Parenting' on Child-Rearing
Posted on 10/5/2016
In 1971, a psychologist named Fitzhugh Dodson published a book titled How to Parent. It did so well that he came out several years later with How to Father. By 1971, Dodson was one of a handful,...
Read MoreUnconditional Love and Leadership Can Change a 'Bad' Child
Posted on 5/24/2016
True story: I sent one of my more recent books to a radio talk-show host who, in turn, gave it to one of her “readers,” asking him to extract appropriate questions. Said reader, a...
Read MoreReclaiming Parent Leadership
Posted on 5/12/2016
Things have really changed now that parenting has turned into a project focused on deep (theoretical) psychological qualities. Parenting used to be about children's values, character, and...
Read MoreAuthority Is About Unequivocal Expectations, Not Persuasion
Posted on 3/8/2016
Actress Charlize Theron recently caused a media stir when she wrestled her adopted four-year-old son Jackson to the ground when he began throwing a public tantrum. For this, Theron was labeled a...
Read MoreChildren Have the Right to a Steady Balance of Love and Leadership
Posted on 2/17/2016
“Do children have any rights?” is the question of the week, submitted by a 30-something reader. Yes, children have rights. First and foremost, there is their right to be loved...
Read MoreUse Proper Authority with Teens
Posted on 4/21/2015
Copyright 2015, John K. Rosemond Q: Our son is going to be 13 next year and we’re trying to be proactive about the coming storm. He’s been a good kid and relatively easy to raise to...
Read MoreAlarming Trends
Posted on 3/3/2015
In the 1960s, child and teen mental health and behavior problems began an alarming rise that has continued to the present. In 1970, one of my grad school professors proposed that this trend could...
Read MoreFour Attributes of Authority
Posted on 12/30/2014
Who are the happier campers in a workplace setting: the employees who (a) obey the rules, follow the procedures, and voice any complaints respectfully, such that the entire workplace is not...
Read MoreWhat Parents Should Convey to a Child
Posted on 12/2/2014
Despite the conclusion one might reach after reading the latest issue of any popular parenting magazine, the job of parent is actually quite simple; so simple that I can describe the...
Read MoreLeadership - Being a Proper Parent
Posted on 2/18/2014
In my most popular presentation - "Parenting with Love and Leadership"™ - I reveal the secret to proper, effective discipline: to wit, acting like a superior being. Today's parents have been...
Read MoreConsequences
Posted on 12/3/2013
Q: My 5-year-old son is an only child whom I homeschool. He talks back, argues, and generally wears me down. I need help getting to him to realize that no is no, that I mean what I say. I know I'm...
Read MoreYelling - Not Good for Parent or Child
Posted on 7/16/2013
"I'm a yeller," she said, she being the mother of three young children. "No," I replied, "you're not. There is no genetic predisposition toward yelling, and no biochemical or...
Read MoreAuthority
Posted on 5/28/2013
Q: My 3-year-old started preschool 3 days a week (private sitter other two days) about 2 months ago. He did great. However, this week he began being defiant, not following directions then kicked,...
Read MoreShould I Let My 17-Year-Old Son Go on 'Senior Beach Week'?
Posted on 3/12/2013
<b>Q: In our city, most of the high school seniors participate in “Senior Beach Week” during spring break. They rent beach houses and condos and party like there’s no tomorrow. Alcohol, marijuana...
Read MoreUnconditional Love and Unequivocal Leadership
Posted on 8/7/2012
In the late 1960s, as psychologist B. F. Skinner's behavior modification theory made the jump from academia into popular culture, the focus in child rearing shifted from molding character to...
Read MoreRelationship vs Leadership
Posted on 12/13/2011
Someone recently asked if I agree with the currently popular parenting adage that "rules without relationship lead to rebellion." No, I do not. Rules without relationship with the rule-giver...
Read MoreStep-Family Issues: Parent From the Marriage
Posted on 11/15/2011
How to 'parent from the marriage' Q: Several years ago, I married a widower who never disciplined his children. They are now 9, 14 and 16 and he still has a very difficult time denying them...
Read MoreAdult Leadership, Not Wonderful Relationship
Posted on 9/20/2011
Browsing a gift shop the other day, I happened on a decorative plaque on which was inscribed a quote attributed to the late "power of positive thinking" guru Norman Vincent Peale: "Change your...
Read MoreParents Giving Instruction to Children
Posted on 4/19/2011
To thank or not to thank kids, that is the question Q: When a parent is giving a child an instruction, like "pick up your toys, " should the parent use "please"? My wife says we should model...
Read MoreEffective Parent Leadership
Posted on 8/24/2010
Effective leaders earn and show respect Q: I recently read an article that said adults need to earn the respect of children. That seems like one more "progressive" attempt to undermine parental...
Read MoreFundamentals of Leadership Parenting
Posted on 6/15/2010
Leadership takes only a few words A teacher from San Diego recently attended a workshop of mine in which I explain the simple fundamentals of "Leadership Parenting." The fundamentals in...
Read MoreChildren Need Leadership
Posted on 6/1/2010
Children need leaders, not managers Over 40 years of behavior modification propaganda has the typical American parent convinced that the discipline of a child is accomplished by effectively...
Read MoreHigh-Fiving Dad
Posted on 4/27/2010
Man up, dad, and stop the high-fives Slapping hands smacks of trying to be a buddy, not an authority figure. Sometimes, seemingly little things are of great import. I was reminded of this...
Read MoreBe Honest with Kids About Their Abilities and Future
Posted on 12/1/2009
BE HONEST WITH KIDS ABOUT THEIR ABILITIES AND FUTURE A grandmother recently told me that her son and daughter-in-law have told her only grandchild, an 8-year-old, that he can be anything he...
Read MoreBoys Need Fathers, Not Friends
Posted on 11/17/2009
TODAY'S MALES NEED FATHERS, NOT FRIENDS I recently spent some time with a friend who has three children. My buddy is a college-educated responsible guy who has never failed to do right by his...
Read MoreChild Sharing Bed with Parents
Posted on 6/2/2009
SHARING YOUR BED? PARENTS, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? The second question: "Why should a child not be found sharing his parents' bed?" In this case, the issue is boundaries. Parenting is a form...
Read MoreDon't Substitute Relationship For Leadership
Posted on 2/3/2009
ADULT LEADERSHIP PROMOTES THE BEST DISCIPLINE A recent column in which I said that behavior modification doesn't work on humans stirred things up. Not surprising, given that some of today's...
Read MoreParents Should Make Decisions for Child
Posted on 12/16/2008
KIDS SHOULDN'T MAKE CHOICES; THAT'S FOR PARENTS My wife and I were seated in a restaurant when a family was shown a table near us. Immediately the parents began asking their little girl...
Read MoreShowing results 1-50 on page 1 of 2.
