Most parents do a pretty good job of raising kids, says psychologist Laurence Steinberg, but truly effective parenting means not just relying on natural instincts but also on knowing what works and why. In The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting, Dr. Steinberg distills decades of research into a parenting book that explains the fundamentals of raising happy, healthy children, giving readers an invaluable map to help them navigate parenthood from infancy to adolescence. Dr. Steinberg found that the basic principles for effective parenting are simple and universal, and apply to all parents and children regardless of background. He explains each principle and shows how to put it into action, using anecdotes and examples: from "What You Do Matters" (parents make an enormous difference; children are not simply the product of their genes) to "Establish Rules and Limits" (how to provide structure in your child's life, and how to handle conflicts over rules) and "Help Foster Your Child's Independence" (help your child think through decisions instead of making them for him or her). Concise and authoritative, written with warmth and compassion, The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting is an intelligent guide to raising a happy, healthy child and to becoming a happier, more confident parent in the process. "Distills decades of research into a simple guide for moms and dads in the trenches." -- Newsweek "[Steinberg] helps parents apply the science of child development to their relationships with their children. It is warm, insightful, and eminently practical." -- Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D., Codirector, Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media "Steinberg offers sage advice as well as pragmatic steps to follow, in the hopes that you can learn to become a more 'mindful' parent." -- The Boston Globe Laurence Steinberg, PhD, is considered to be the world’s leading authority on adolescence and young adulthood. He currently is the Distinguished University Professor and Laurel H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University. In addition to authoring the leading college textbook on adolescence, just published in its thirteenth edition, Larry has authored or coauthored nearly 500 scholarly articles on adolescence as well as seventeen books. His trade books include The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting , which has been translated into ten other languages; You and Your Adolescent ; and most recently, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence , which has been translated into seven other languages. The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting By Laurence Steinberg Simon & Schuster Copyright ©2005 Laurence Steinberg All right reserved. ISBN: 0743251164 Chapter One: Being a Better Parent When people find out that I'm both a parent and a psychologist who has spent his entire career studying parenting, I'm often asked whether what I've learned as a researcher has helped me to be a better parent. The answer is that of course it has. It's like asking a professional chef whether studying cooking for a living has made him or her better in the kitchen at home. How could it not? Like anything else, good parenting requires knowledge. I've studied parents and their children for well over twenty-five years. I've published several books and hundreds of articles on parenting and child development, and I've been the editor in charge of articles on parent-child relationships for the most prestigious scientific journal in the field of child psychology. My own instincts as a parent have been shaped by what I've devoted my career to studying, and when I've had doubts or questions about what to do as a parent -- as all parents, even experts, invariably do -- I have always regained my bearings by thinking about what I've learned from the thousands of families I've studied and the thousands of research reports I've read. In this book, I'm going to share this understanding with you. This book is different from other books on parenting because it is based on the science of good parenting, on literally thousands of well-designed research studies -- research that is just as credible as the research that scientists use to test new drugs, design safer automobiles, and construct sturdier buildings. Unlike most other parenting books on the market, this one is not based on one person's opinion, or someone's experiences in raising a couple of children, or the observations somebody made over the course of working with a few dozen families in a clinical practice. The advice contained in this book is based on what scientists who study parenting have learned from decades of systematic research involving hundreds of thousands of families. What I've done is to synthesize and communicate what the experts have learned in a language that nonexperts can understand. I've boiled this knowledge down into ten basic principles. This book is not about the nuts and bolts of