Preventive Parenting

• Share

(2 of 2)

Similar accommodations need to be made for other behavioral problems. Parents of overactive children, for example, may need to allow for a certain level of tumult while lightly tapping the kids' behavioral brakes. The strategies parents adopt depend on the personality of the child, something that's best identified with the help of a professional. "Pediatricians and family doctors know about this," says Diller. "But they practice behavioral intervention in only a limited way."

To be sure, if a child is predisposed to a clinical condition such as ADHD, even the most deft parenting won't avert the problem altogether--but it can improve things. "If children and parents work together," says developmental specialist Nancy Close of the Yale Child Study Center, "kids can be better equipped to handle whatever challenges their particular sensitivities lead them to." As with so many prevention strategies, the goal is to take control of the problem early, before the problem is the one in charge.