Help your child discover the wonders of nature.

How to get more out of your home grill than just a great meal.

Ever since the first cave people discovered that the taste of roasted meat was a whole lot better than the raw stuff they had grown up with, men and woman have been passing down the fine art of grilling to their sons and daughters.

We all want our kids to grow up feeling good about themselves and feeling like they have a place in this world. We want them to be confident and have the courage to make the right decisions. Courage is the foundation for positive action and builds confidence so that kids feel like they can take good risks when the situation calls for it. Check out these five tips to help your kids build courage.

Active Parents take education seriously. They understand that it is about more than just grades; it is about developing an appetite for learning. Check out these three tips for raising effective learners.

Our kids are way more Internet savvy than we are, simply because it's their norm. They've never known a time without it. This has its advantages and disadvantages.

Building a good relationship with your child is not as daunting of a task as it may seem. There seems to be a myth that you cannot be a good parent and friend to your child, but I believe to be a good parent you must also develop many of the same attributes as a good friendship. What is a good friendship based on?

Discipline is simply teaching our children the types of behaviors that are acceptable and unacceptable. When we discipline our children it teaches them to follow the rules and that there are consequences if they don't. Disciplining our children can be a challenge; we don't want them to view us as the villain but we need to set ground rules for who's in charge.

If you haven’t watched the popular new Netflix show “13 Reasons Why” chances are your teen has. The show follows a group of high schoolers after a teenage girl, Hannah Baker, commits suicide and leaves tapes for the individuals she views as responsible for her act. School counselors have accused the show of glorifying suicide and self-harm while the show’s producers insist it was created to help struggling teens. Regardless of your opinions on the show itself, we can all agree that it’s important to talk to your child about the challenging topics of bullying, depression, and suicide. "13 Reasons Why" can be an effective avenue to having these discussions if your child has viewed the program. If not, now might be a good time to have these talks anyway.

Healthy eating, just like all healthy habits, has its part in keeping kids smoke free. Yet finding ways to keep our kids' homemade lunches healthy and satisfying-and tasty enough that they'll eat them-can feel like an ongoing battle. One thing to remember is that kids aren't gourmets needing something new and inventive every day. If you can find a couple of lunches they like, they'll eat the same meals over and over again. Still, it never hurts to mix things up and see if you can find a few new items to add to their lunch staples. Try these ideas and surprise your kids with meals that will make them smile.

With smart phones, TV, video games and social media everywhere we turn, it's more important than ever we teach our children the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle. In addition to warding off obesity and providing the physical fitness to stay active, kids that understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle are less likely to smoke or participate in other dangerous behaviors. It's not possible to dictate every activity our kids participate in, but you can absolutely influence how your children voluntarily choose to spend their time.

I'm always appreciative when readers reach out to ask questions. I recently received the following email from a mother struggling with the "Stay out of my life!" stage most teenagers enter. Adding to her worry is the fact that she suspected her son was smoking. Read below to find out her concerns and my advice on how to handle the situation.

I find myself often moody and overly frustrated with my child very often. Do you have any recommendations to help that situation?

Chances are if I asked you if you prefer that your child be a leader or a follower, you would say, "leader." We all want our kids to be a leader not a follower but in reality a better goal would be to know when to lead and when to follow. Most successful people do not feel the need to always be the leader. Instead, they have a strong desire to make sure that they, and others, get to the right place. Sometimes this means taking the lead, while other times it is wise to rotate back in the pack and let someone else lead for awhile-as long as they are headed in the right direction.

Looking for ways to promote health and happiness for your kids? Give these three ideas a try.

All personal opinions aside, the research on spanking is clear. There are a lot of better ways to discipline kids besides spanking. You don’t have to indulge or spoil your child to provide them with non-violent discipline. The following eight reasons not to spank are excerpted from my book, Taming the Spirited Child: Strategies for Parenting Challenging Children without Breaking Their Spirits.