Crazy For You

The Freedom to Learn blog at Psych Today has this advice: How to Advise and Help Your Kids Without Driving Them (or Yourself) Crazy (see the linked article for the full list)

1. When your child asks for help or advice, give only what was asked for...
2. Before offering unsolicited help or advice count to ten...
3. Before trying to protect your child from danger, think of the potential benefits as well as the potential costs of the "dangerous" behavior...

The Berenstain Bears Were Right

You have to teach kids to defend themselves against bullying.

The CSMonitor carries an opinion piece arguing that the way kids should deal with bullies is to teach them the art of the comeback.

See: Bullying: The advice you got is wrong. Here's what really works.

Perhaps my children's bedtime reading should be Oscar Wilde so they can learn the art of quipping.

Peers And Parents And Teen Behavior

It appears that even good parents will have kids who experiment with drugs, but drug addicts can be predicted by the teenager's peer group.

See PsyToday: Do parents cause drug addictions in teens?

Happy children who enjoy a supportive relationship with their parents may occasionally use drugs, or have drug-using friends, but rarely get identified with drug-using cliques.

When Reverse Psychology Works

If, as a parent, you have hit a wall in trying to change a child's behavior, there is observational research that indicates showing disinterest in if the child does or does not do what the parent requests can be effective in producing the desired result.

See Slate: Plan B: What to do when all else has failed to change your kid's behavior

...back off almost entirely: to stop asking their child to do the desired behavior and say it's OK not to do it at all, stop offering praise or other rewards for doing it, and mask their attitude of engaged enthusiasm or frustrated rage with an appearance of bland disinterest in whether the child does it or not. What happens next, frequently, is that within a day or two the child starts doing the behavior with no prompting from parents or anyone else. If you try something similar with your own recalcitrant child, within a few days he or she may well be using the toilet, eating green beans, or bathing without dire struggles.

The New York Times On Bullying

At Last, Facing Down Bullies (and Their Enablers)