1. What you do matters. Whether it's your own health behaviors or the way you treat other people, your children are learning from what you do.

2. You cannot be too loving. It's not possible to spoil a child with love. Spoiling a child is usually the consequence of giving a child things in place of love; such as lowered expectations, material possessions or too few boundaries.

3. Be involved in your child's life. It takes time and is hard work, and it often means rethinking and rearranging your priorities. Frequently it means sacrificing what you want to do for what your child needs to do. Be there mentally as well as physically."

4. Adapt your parenting to fit your child. Keep pace with your child's development. Your child is growing up, modify your responses accordingly when you consider how age is affecting your child's behavior.

5. Establish and set rules. Manage your child's behavior when they are young. The later you start the harder time that child will have learning how to manage themself when they are older and you aren't around. Any time of the day or night, you should always be able to answer these three questions: Where is my child? Who is with my child? What is my child doing? The rules your child has learned from you are going to shape the rules he applies to himself. Give them freedoms within this when they reach the preteen and adolescent years; don't micromanage your child, but rather keep tabs on them.

6. Foster your child's independence. Setting limits helps your child develop a sense of self-control. When a parent encourages independence it helps the child develop a sense of self-direction. To be successful in life, a young adult is going to need both.

7. Be consistent. If your rules vary from day to day in an unpredictable fashion or if you enforce them only intermittently, your child's misbehavior is your fault, not theirs. Your most important disciplinary tool is consistency. Identify your non-negotiables. If you let it become a struggle of power, your child will learn to begrudge it and will challenge your position.

8. Avoid harsh discipline. Parents should never hit a child, under any circumstances, Studies show that children who are spanked, hit, or slapped have more of a tendancy toward fighting with other children. They are more likely to be bullies and more likely to use aggression to solve disputes with others. Time outs work great to discipling; get your point across to your child and to not involve aggression.

9. Explain your rules and decisions. Generally, parents over-explain to young children and under-explain to adolescents. What is very obvious to you may not be clear to a 12-year-old. At this age a child doesn't have the priorities, judgment, or experience that a parent does. 

10. Treat your child with respect. The best way to get respectful treatment from your child is to treat him respectfully. Give your child the same courtesies you would give to anyone else. Speak politely. Respect their opinions. Pay attention when they are speaking to you. Treat with kindness. Children treat others the way their parents treat them. Your relationship with your child is the foundation for their relationships with others, present and future.