I have a 9 year old granddaughter. All of a sudden she will go into a crying spell such as this am. She had spent the night at my home last night as she requests on numerous occasions to do and went to sleep for 9:15 last night and slept until I woke her up [...]

My 14 year old daughter wants me to walk her to the schoolbus stop. Except, she doesn’t want her friends to know, so she makes me hide a block away behind a car, and wants me to wave to her as she gets on the bus.  At first I thought a kid was being mean to her, [...]

Hi all! I’m busy studying for my Family Medicine Boards – my 10 year recertification exam is April 10 (prayers and warm thoughts welcome) – and so I’m not answering as many questions as usual these few weeks. In the meantime, I was interviewed for a great article on Care.com and thought I’d use this [...]

My friend and I are really worried about dieting in front of our girls. We don’t use the word, and we say we are trying to be “healthier”, but we are really worried about giving the girls a complex about their body size and damaging their relationship with food. What can we do to teach [...]

I feel pretty strongly that kids need to know how and when to apologize. And even more strongly that adults need to model this behavior. Check out the 4 important parts to an apology, and when we can (and when we shouldn’t) use it ourselves!

Siblings bicker. Adults often want to step in and end it, but it never seems to end! Doctor G has some suggestions for figuring out if it’s really a problem, and then empowering kids to change their behavior.

My son is turning 5 in the fall, and we’re getting a lot of conflicting advice about kindergarten. Do we send him, and have him be maybe the youngest in his class? Or keep him in preschool even though he did a pre-k program this year and he’s going to be bored? He already knows [...]

I have a teen daughter who has social anxiety. She struggled with school due to crowds, but started to miss a lot of time in grades 7 -9 . This year in grade 10 she started a new school and I am lucky I can convince her out the door 2 days a week. We [...]

What do you do if your child refuses to bring their grade up? Our son, 16, is required to maintain at least a low C in every class to be able to use the computer (read: Facebook) at home. He skips classes often. He is failing several classes. Nothing seems to be incentive enough to [...]

I am struggling to deal with a new situation with my 10 year old daughter. We have learned that she looked on my ex’s phone, discovered a passcode, and has been downloading applications without permission onto her i-touch. When asked about it she denies it and when given the consequence of a month with no [...]

When Jennifer wrote me that she had a question, and would take the answer via video, I was really excited! “OK,” she wrote. “Is it really so bad to tell your kids to shut up? And if it is, why? And, if somebody should stop doing that, HOW?” I hope you’ll check out my response!w

Parenting is hard! There are lots of ways to do it better, and one of the best is to get a little feedback from your “clients.” When we treat kids with respect – for their opinions, emotions, ideas – they will gain confidence and be more likely to treat us respectfully!

Have you seen EverydayFamily? A great site with blogs and expert information and even a TV show, I’m honored to be featured over there once a month.  This month I answered questions about picky eaters at different ages.  Will you recognize one of your own kids?

When our daughter was born it was recommended to have a sound machine to comfort the baby like being in mom. Now my daughter is almost 2 years old and we still use the sound machine. Does a toddler get a good nights rest with a sound machine on? Until what age do you recommand [...]

My partner and I are merging two families. My kids are 2 years apart, my son is older. He has two daughters, a little younger but the same split. I give my kids different responsibilities and privileges. He makes a point of being completely equal with his girls. This has led to some conflict. Do [...]

I have two step daughters 12 & 14. The fourteen year old is a very good person but can be very disrespectful when angry and she is angry when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do like laundry, feeding the dogs, dishes, cleaning her room etc She will talk back and talk [...]

I have two step daughters 12 & 14. The fourteen year old is a very good person but can be very disrespectful when angry and she is angry when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do like laundry, feeding the dogs, dishes, cleaning her room etc. She will talk back and talk [...]

Hello Doctor G, My fiance and I live together and have been dating for 2 years. I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in “merged” families and developmental issues but I cannot understand the constant talking back and unappreciativeness from his 6 year old. At meal time, bed time, homework time, he challenges me. Rudely. If [...]

What is your number one tip to help de-escalate an autistic meltdown BEFORE it escalates? Katrina, from IN Wow, Katrina, you ask the easy questions, right? Not only are no two kids alike, I’d venture to say that no two autistic meltdowns are exactly alike! So I’m going to give a top 5 rather than [...]

I am a nanny for an eight year old girl. She has asked her parents several times (in my presence) to have a day without an after-school activity. They do not agree, and just keep piling on more activities. She really does need a little free time, do you have any suggestions about what she [...]