The Iron Lady, the new movie about Margaret Thatcher, did not live up to its potential. Perhaps if they had focused on what it was like for her to be both a mother and a woman in power they might have made a more interesting movie.

Plenty of parents believe strongly in spanking. But research not only fails to support the most common rationalizations in favor of spanking, it suggests the opposite — that spanking is bad for kids.

We adults are supposed to be the responsible ones. We have a duty to protect those who are dependent upon us for their welfare. Ensuring the safety of our children is a duty we all share.

What happens when we apply concepts designed for industrial processes to children in schools? The kind of factory schooling created by legislation like the US No Child Left Behind Act fails to recognize fundamental principles of psychological development and undervalues diversity and uniqueness.

Watch some children out for a walk and you’ll see a lot of meandering to and fro as they make fascinating discoveries on all sides. So why do adults seem to prefer to walk in straight lines instead? What do our kids know that we’ve forgotten?

It’s so easy to fear, misunderstand, or dislike those people, places, and things about which you are truly ignorant. But sometimes getting know to them does more than take away the fear or the potential for misunderstanding; sometimes it turns strangers into family.

If there ever was a perennial parental complaint, I’d have to say it is “why won’t my child listen to me?” When you know some of the most common reasons why your little one is ignoring or defying you, you have a better chance of being heard and getting what you want.