While child-rearing can be challenging, learning positive techniques and skills is incredibly important to being a great parent to your kid. The more tricks and tools you have up your sleeve, the better parent you will become.

Remove everything from the countertop in the kitchen, recline your son or daughter on a towel, and allow water from the tap to soak their hair. This can help alleviate the fear of being dunked and their dislike of water in their face.

Do not give an infant or toddler soda, diet or regular. Give your baby nutritious beverages, like milk and sugar-free juices; water is also important for proper hydration.

Don’t let your child leave for school without reflective tape on his backpack. Put this tape on his clothes, too, for extra protection. You can find reflectors at hobby stores, hardware stores or your local safety coalition. That way, your kids will be easily spotted by motorists and crosswalk attendants during darker parts of the day.

Don’t smoke at home when you have kids. Actually, it would be extremely helpful to kick the habit altogether. The effects of secondhand smoke can often be as bad as smoking a cigarette directly. Second-hand smoke is responsible for a multitude of health issues in a child, including bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and other respiratory problems.

Every child is completely different. Some modes of interaction are more effective with one child than another. This will include reward as well as discipline style. Try to incorporate new techniques into the older tried and true ones that have worked well in the past.

When traveling with children, it is advisable to stop often to allow them time to expend some of their pent-up energy. Your natural temptation might be to hustle through the journey as fast as you can, but a relaxed pace, with plenty of pauses, will cut down on backseat squabbling. There are many places to stop along the way, where your children can run around and release some of their pent up energy.

The goal is that you can become a more effective parent by utilizing the tools and tips from this article. It is natural to need help, and a good parent should always look for more resources.