I often say that parents really only have two questions for me: "Dr. Knight, why does my child do this?" or "Dr. Knight, why doesn't my child do this?" I hear some version of at least one of these questions from nearly every parent that walks into my office. My answers are always pretty much the same: "Because he can," or "Because she doesn't have to." Now, I'm not casting blame on anyone in answering that way. Rather, I'm trying to short-circuit attempts to locate the "real

Parents routinely tell me that they are just sick of struggling with their kids, fighting with their kids, pushing their kids to do a given thing, warning them not to do a given thing, punishing their kids over what they've done (or not done) and on and on and on. The sense I get during these conversations is that parenting has turned into an endless, draining battle. (And -- having been awarded the children I deserve -- I'm no stranger to that feeling myself!) When I hear th