Perhaps your child looks, talks, and feels angry. Maybe you restricted him because of fighting, or told him to quit sassing, or caught him bullying his little brother. It’s natural for a child to feel frustrated when things don’t go his way but it is not all right for him to fuel his frustrations with grudges and hateful thoughts. It’s time to help him adjust his thinking cap.

Let’s say your child looks, talks, and feels worthless for making mistakes. Maybe your child tries to be too perfect and feels regretful when she is not. Maybe she thinks you’ll be disappointed if her report card isn’t excellent, or if she breaks a dish or spills her milk. It’s OK if she feels regret but expanding her regrets into crushing guilt is not. It’s time to help her adjust her thinking cap.

Does your child look, talk, and feel worried? Does he play it safe and avoid challenges? Is he unwilling to try new things? Does he care too much how others think of him? It’s OK for him to feel concern about taking tests, speaking before his class, or when trying to make new friends but inflating his concerns into a habit of worry and fear is not. It’s time to help him adjust his thinking cap.

Occasionally your child may slip into depression, anger, guilt or fear. To stay depressed, angry, guilty or fearful, your child will have to think a lot of negative thoughts. Lots of negative thoughts create a crooked thinking cap.

Although many children are picky eaters at some stage in their lives, experts say not to worry. Unless you are feeding him or her chips and cookies three times each day, these children will most likely meet their weekly nutritional quotas.

However, if you are concerned about their developmental progress, make an appointment with their pediatrician for confirmation. In meantime, you may want to include a multivitamin in your child's daily diet to balance his intake of nutrients.

Instead of looking at what types of food your child is eating meal-by-meal or even day-by-day, round out picture by looking at your child's diet week-by-week.

Most children do not eat a balanced diet every day, but over course of a week or so, their diet will usually fall within healthy eating guidelines. This perspective can help provide you with total nutrient intake and you will probably feel much better after discovering that they really are eating more nutritional foods overall.

Here are some nutritional guidelines that can help you when looking at your child's dietary needs:

• Children need between 24-28 grams of protein a day, which can be found in just two servings of cheese, beef, chicken, fish, eggs, yogurt, dried beans, milk, or peanut butter

• Approximately 800 mg of calcium (3-4 servings) are needed daily, which can be found in macaroni and cheese, yogurt, orange juice, or a glass of milk

• Children need at least 5 mcg of Vitamin D, which is available in a glass of milk or by playing outside in sunshine for a few minutes every day