Mom Psych

Googling “boot camp for troubled teens” isn’t the answer—positive reinforcement is. Drawing on Yale psychologist Alan Kazdin’s research, this piece breaks down concrete techniques parents can use to turn defiant behavior around without punishment or power struggles.

We tend to file “social” skills under nice-to-have—but prosocial connectedness may be one of the biggest predictors of a child’s lifelong mental health. And it’s attachment, attunement, and parental modeling that helps shape a child’s capacity for empathy and connection.

Self-control isn’t something kids are simply born with or without—it’s a skill parents can actively help build, starting in infancy. Research from Roy Baumeister to Daniel Siegel trace how self-regulation develops from a baby’s first soothed cry through adolescence.