As a parent (or, indeed, as a therapist, friend, or partner), we have two hands. These two hands remind us of our two main tasks in approaching our loved ones and their many complex needs. With one hand, we hold the feelings. With the other, we hold the line.

Your child loves you more than anything else in the entire world. Love just doesn't always look like it does in stock photos. Real love is a lot messier. Embrace the mess, or at the very least, don't take it personally.

If we are polite, are respectful, and treat our children - and others - like human beings, our children will too.If we do not, our children may learn to say "please," "thank you," and "sorry" at all the right times, but they may never mean it.

When you travel with a child, it's not a vacation.It's a trip.

What's a parent to do when a toddler bite...really bites?

We have more than we have ever had, but also have less; less community, love, understanding, health, quiet, rest, and connection. Constantly bombarded by overwhelm, we are surrounded by excess information, bright lights, blaring sounds, noxious smells, giant crowds, strange new places, and seemingly infinite choices. We live in a foreign land, each of us wondering why we are struggling and suffering. Why none of it seems to make sense, and why each day brings more and more irreconcilable paradoxes.