Miscellaneous Editorial Columns

John's Most Recent Articles

The End of Mere Childrearing

Posted on 1/31/2023

“What went wrong, John?” asked a fellow boomer who, like many folks my age, are dismayed at what has happened within the American family over our lifetimes. Specifically, we have seen the end of...

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Don't Make Santa Claus Into a Boogie Man

Posted on 12/6/2022

Okay, stop it! Enough, already! I guess we need some rules around here, beginning and ending with, “Don’t make Santa Claus into a boogie man.” I know him personally and he’s the...

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‘Gentle Parenting’ Appeals to Emotion, Not Reason

Posted on 10/4/2022

Q: My husband and I recently visited our son’s family. We live two thousand miles apart and with the pandemic and all, hadn’t seen one another in several years. We were appalled to...

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Child Mental Health Therapy: Any Proof It Does Any Good?

Posted on 8/30/2022

In a 6 – 3 decision, the Killingly, CT, school board recently said “no” to establishing a mental health center at its high school. I imagine most folks, upon hearing that, would be dismayed,...

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'Parenting' vs. Child-Rearing

Posted on 8/23/2022

“The goal of parenting is not to control, coerce or punish children into being ‘good.’ The goal of parenting is to grow children who can feel all of their feelings and become empathic...

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Why Parenting Slot Machine Theory Is Wrong

Posted on 7/27/2022

Some parents, I have discovered, believe in the parenting slot machine theory. They hold fast to the notion that some parents are simply lucky, meaning that chance, and chance alone, determines...

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'Equal' vs. 'Fair'

Posted on 7/19/2022

Q: How can I explain to my kids, ages 6 and 9, that “fair” and “equally” are not the same. They complain constantly that I’m not fair. What they mean is I don’t treat them the same. A: ...

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Research on Ultrasounds Is Murky

Posted on 7/5/2022

Correlation does not prove cause, drummed my grad school statistics professor. For example, a rise in the rate of American children who regularly consume lox and a concurrent rise in Type 1...

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The Ideal Time Spacing Between Children

Posted on 6/14/2022

Q: My husband and I have one child, age two. We’d like to have at least one more. What is the optimal spacing between children? A: Research puts ideal sibling spacing at three to four years....

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Today’s Kids Have No Idea What They’re Missing

Posted on 5/24/2022

I grew up in the “You’re Making a Mountain of a Molehill” Era, also known as the Age of “Children Are Starving in (fill in the blank with some remote place)," and by golly, I’m a better person for...

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Recent Questions

2-Year- Old Potty Training Regression is Normal

Posted on 3/31/2023

Potty trained regression!? Our son turned two at the end of february. We potty trained him exactly how the book says at about 22 months, naked & 75! And he conquered potty training really well in...

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10 Year Old with Violent Fits, Divorced Parents and "trifecta of diagnoses"

Posted on 10/13/2022

My 10 year old son has the adoptive trifecta of diagnoses: "on the autism spectrum", oppositional defiant disorder, and ADHD. Sometimes he has violent fits - although now they're down to 1 or 2...

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Keep It Simple

Posted on 7/13/2022

I’m a single mother of a 2.5 year old. Her father has never been in the picture at all. She’s starting to notice other kids have a dad and she doesn’t. How do I explain his absence to her and...

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Monster Madness

Posted on 7/13/2022

My daughter is 2.5 year old and randomly started telling us there are monsters (under bed, under couch, etc.). She doesn’t necessarily act afraid of them but she does seem bothered by them. It’s...

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9 year old's Frequent Night Time Urinating Best Evaluated by Pediatrician

Posted on 6/26/2022

My 9-year-old frequently gets out of bed to go to the toilet at night. I don’t mind but our house is laid out that he has to leave his bedroom, come down the stairs, past our living room, dining...

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3-Year-Old in Hyper Mode

Posted on 6/22/2022

My 3.5 year old will get hyper and annoying when he is overtired or overexcited. When he’s in a “hyper mode”, he’s running around, trying to roughhouse, jumping into people, being loud and...

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Don't Overthink Autism Diagnosis

Posted on 5/22/2022

My 2.5-year-old daughter has a working diagnosis of autism. I’m finding it incredibly difficult to get my head around it. I do not want to sound unsympathetic, but how did this happen? Why are so...

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It's Not About the Makeup: Time for a Garden Kick

Posted on 3/20/2022

15-year old daughter very obsessed with make-up. Used our Amazon account to buy makeup Products without our knowing till I looked up order history. Took away all her makeup products, went...

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Don't Make a Mountain out of a Molehill

Posted on 3/18/2022

Ten year old son plays with his penis at bedtime. I go to his room at night time and finds him asleep with his hand in his pants. I've told him how wrong this is. Hoe can I get him to stop? He...

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Should We Let Newborn "Cry It Out"?

Posted on 2/21/2022

We are new parents of a three-week old girl. As we've been reading the "New Parent Power!," we've been focusing on "Part 2," which gives guidance for the stages. For infants, it seems that John...

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Video

Parenting Retreats

Posted on 5/17/2014

See what past attendees have to say about John Rosemond's Parenting Retreats! <i>For upcoming retreats and other events, see the Events tab.</i>

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