Below is a list for parents adapted from the book Lists to Live By by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, and John Van Diest.

1. Pay more attention to your marriage—or yourself, if you're a single parent—than you do to the children. Your marriage, if strong and satisfying, will give your children a sense of security.

2. Expect your children to obey. Don't apologize for the decisions you make in their lives; you are in charge of the family.

3. Nurture your children's responsibility within this structure. Allow them to make choices, and let them know they must expect and accept the resulting outcomes.

4. Say no and say it firmly. If the response is a tantrum, so be it. The real world doesn't bend to temper tantrums. Prepare your child to learn to accept no as an answer.

5. Where toys are concerned, less is more. Having too many options inhibits a child's ability to make creative decisions.

6. Turn off the tube. Children need to develop competency skills and social skills, neither of which occur by sitting passively in front of the TV.

7. Don't be intimidated by the experts. Listen to as much advice as you can and use suggestions and ideas that make sense to you, but raise your children your way.