A better choice is to ask them what’s bothering them in a compassionate way. Kids will often take out their feelings on someone who they feel safe with—you! And remember that you can tell them in a calm and firm manner that it’s not OK to talk to you that way.

Arguing is a choice for parents. It still takes two to tango. Most parents who complain about their kids arguing are pretty good at it themselves. You may disagree often with your kids, but arguments can usually be avoided if parents can stay disciplined.

Problem #3: My kids aren’t achieving as well as they should

Whether its’ tying their shoes, getting better grades, or success at sports, parents will always be worried about how well their kids are doing compared to other kids. While there certainly are situations that require extra help and support, most of extreme concern about your child’s development is a problem in itself. When parents worry about their child’s capability, it sends a powerful message to this child. Remember that Einstein and Edison were poor students!

The responsibility of parents is to believe in their child’s ability to succeed and to set high expectations for them. The rest is to be patient and to be aware of your own insecurities. It is these insecurities that may be part of reason your child isn’t doing well.

While it’s easy to point fingers at your kids, remember old saying: “The apple doesn’t fall far from tree.”

Parents who attend to their own issues first will find far fewer “rotten apples” in their tree.

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, coaches men to be better fathers and husbands. He is the author of “25 Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent Fathers” http://www.markbrandenburg.com/father.htm For more great tips and action steps for fathers, sign up for his FREE bi-weekly newsletter, “Dads, Don’t Fix Your Kids,” at http://www.markbrandenburg.com.

But you won’t see an outcry from mass media giants in this country. You see, we live in country where “Why TV is Good for Kids” appeared as cover story in Newsweek Magazine in 2002. The same Newsweek Magazine that’s owned by Washington Post Company, which owns a sprawling cable company and six broadcast stations around country.

No, you won’t hear too much about these important studies from Time-Warners of world. Bad for business, you see.

But if you’re parent of a young child, you need to know this information.

There are about nine million children who take prescription medication for ADHD in this country. The number of kids who take ADHD medication has been doubling every two years. And while TV certainly isn’t culprit in all of these cases, link between number of attention problems and amount of TV watched is undeniable.

The days of “harmless” argument for TV and kids needs to be put to rest. Parents need to be educated about very real possibility of causing future attention problems with their kids.

And young kids across this country need to be given a fighting chance.

Mark Brandenburg MA, CPCC, coaches men to be better fathers and husbands. He is the author of “25 Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent Fathers” http://www.markbrandenburg.com/father.htm. Sign up for his FREE bi-weekly newsletter, “Dads, Don’t Fix Your Kids,” at http://www.markbrandenburg.com.