Cut the back talk!

Often enough, “When a child talks back, what he’s really expressing is anger, frustration, fear, or hurt,” says Jane Nelsen, author of Positive Discipline.

 

Of course, it’s hard for a father not to respond punitively to back talk. A wiser course of action, though, is to try to get to the bottom of what’s eating your children and teach them to express it in a more acceptable way.