Put simply, children are challenging. For every first step or first word, there's a hit or a bite. For every belly laugh, there's a temper tantrum. It's hard enough for parents to deal with the challenging behavior issues that come with a child's natural development. Add in time spent in childcare, and these same issues can seemingly reach crisis mode.

In the first series of its kind for parents of children in childcare, Behavior Matters looks at the ways parents can work with their daycare provider to address the most common and perplexing behavior challenges in consistent and appropriate ways-from separation anxiety and toilet training to sharing and power struggles.

Written by an acclaimed early childhood teacher, consultant, and trainer, this essential guide helps parents work with childcare providers to:

Understand the developmental stages of young children
Identify the typical behaviors young children exhibit while going through these stages
Develop positive strategies for meeting the challenges these behaviors present

Behavior Matters helps parents and providers work together to make their child's behavior issues a nonissue.

Deborah Hewitt is an early childhood teacher, consultant, and author of So This Is Normal Too?: Teachers and Parents Working Out Developmental Issues in Young Children. She lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

Redleaf Guides for Parents
Redleaf Guides for Parents is a new series that offers parents field-tested, cutting-edge thinking about creating positive partnerships with the adults who care for their children. For over 30 years, Redleaf Press has been a leading publisher of exceptional professional resources for the early childhood field.