If your child wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to come into your bed, here's what you can do:
  • Consider allowing them to sleep with you. After all, we now know that the "family bed" can be helpful for many children.
  • Keep a sleeping bag open on the floor next to your bed. When your child needs an extra feeling of security they can crawl into it without waking you up.
  • Return them to their room, and spend a few moments comforting them until they fall back to sleep.
Remember: We all want to be better parents - but kids don't come with an instruction manual.


When Halloween has become just too much — too expensive, too much candy or too dangerous, here's what you can do:
  • Set a "candy eating limit" before Halloween starts, so your child knows what the rules are.
  • Give your child a costume budget, and remind them they can make all or part of the costume. Consider letting your child spend any money saved on something else.
  • Attach glow-in-the-dark strips to the back of your child's costume so they can be more easily seen at nighttime.
Remember: We all want to be better parents - but kids don't come with an instruction manual.

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