The day started with bang. Or in this case, with a smack.  Our dog, Stanley, decided he wanted to eat breakfast. At 4:30 in the morning. So he whacked my face with his paw. Hard. After muttering a few choice words under my breath (and don’t ask why the dog is in the bedroom in the first place!), I pretended to go back to sleep, hoping the obnoxious mutt would catch a clue. This reminded me of how, a few years ago,  I would pretend to be asleep so my …

Are you old enough to remember the “Just Say NO” campaign from the Reagan era?  Whether or not it was successful in reducing drug abuse is debatable. That said, I think it’s like the ”Just Do It” slogan from Nike in its assertiveness. It implies action. Now.
 In the spirit of helping you to take action that will make your job as a parent easier, I am going to point out three parenting behaviors that, if you stop doing them, you will get better results. So, here are my three enemies of successfully parenting parenting your difficult …