Free Online Training! 
 
 Chances are your parenting is perfectly fine and working the way you would like. But if you have any frustrations with your child or would like improve your effectiveness in changing your child’s behavior, this training course will be a very useful guide. 
 
 Everyday Parenting: The ABCs of Child Rearing gives you access to a toolkit of behavior-change techniques that will make your typical day in the home easier as you develop the behaviors you would like to see in your child. The lessons provide step-by-step instructions and demonstrations to improve your course of action with both children and adolescents. Among many techniques, you will learn how even simple modifications to tone of voice and phrasing can lead to more compliance. The key to the course and learning the techniques is practice. It is not enough to know the strategies; you have to do them to reap the rewards. Using the techniques on a temporary basis can lead to permanent change. Apart from the techniques, the course will also shed light on many parenting misconceptions and ineffective strategies that are routinely used. 
 
 Here is a sample of what you will learn 
 
 How to Register 
 
 The Everyday Parenting: The ABCs of Child Rearing course is now available on Coursera for free*. Coursera provides online instruction through recorded videos and lectures taught by instructors from universities and educational institutions around the world. To sign up simply: 
 
 Go to the Coursera website and create an account Search for “Everyday Parenting: The ABCs of Child Rearing“ Click on the “Enroll” button and choose Audit You will be brought to the page and can begin at any time. 
 
 *You can earn a Course Certificate for a nominal fee. ||||| Dr. Kazdin promotes a program called the ABCs, which stands for antecedents, behaviors and consequences. The antecedent is the setup, telling a child, specifically, what you want them to do before you want them to do it. Behaviors are where the behavior is defined and shaped, modeled by the parent. And the consequence involves an expression of approval when that behavior is performed, an over-the top Broadway-style belt-it-to-the-back-row expression of praise with an accompanying physical gesture of approval. 
 
 So instead of yelling at your kid every night for the shoes strewn across the floor, ask him in the morning if he can put his shoes away when he comes home. Make sure when you come home that you put your own shoes away. And if your child puts his shoes away, or even puts them closer to where they’re supposed to be, tell him that he did a great job and then hug him. 
 
 The ABC method of praise is a highly specific technique. You have to be effusive, so you actually have to put a big dumb smile on your face and even wave your hands in the air. Next thing is you have to say, in a very high, cheerful voice, exactly what you’re praising. And then the third part is you have to touch the child and give him some kind of nonverbal praise. The silliness is a feature, not a bug. It makes the kid notice the praise that accompanies correct behavior. And that’s the point. 
 
 “We want to build habits,” Dr. Kazdin said. “The practice actually changes the brain, and in the process of that, the behaviors that you want to get rid of, having all kinds of temper tantrums and all the fights, all that just disappears.” Furthermore, he noted, “as a side effect, when you do these things, the parents’ depression and stress in fact go down and family relations pick up.” 
 
 If our kids behave better, then we won’t feel like yelling. And if we don’t yell, our kids will behave better.
– In the 1960s, 94% of parents used physical punishment on their children. In 2010, just 22% of parents did. Parents have figured out that there's a better way than spanking—and now it's time for yelling to experience that same reckoning. Most parents today yell at their kids, and in the New York Times, Stephen Marche calls the practice "the most widespread parental stupidity around today." Studies have found that shouting at kids can lead to increases in anxiety, stress, depression, and behavioral problems and decreases in self-esteem. It makes parents look out of control and weak, and all it accomplishes is teaching kids to yell themselves. "Yelling, even more than spanking, is the response of a person who doesn’t know what else to do," Marche writes—before explaining what else you can do. He highlights the ABCs of parenting, a process that does require advance planning: A: antecedents. Instead of yelling at your children every time they leave their shoes strewn around the room, clearly explain to them what you want them to do—before you want them to do it. In this case, talk to them in the morning about putting their shoes away when they come home from school. B: behaviors. Define, shape, and model the behavior you want. Put your own shoes away, and help your kids understand what to do. C: consequences. When your child puts his or her shoes away, or even gets them closer to where they're supposed to go, go over-the-top with praise, both verbal and nonverbal (touching). "The beauty of having a system is that instead of reacting after your kids do something bad, instead of waiting for them to mess up and then getting angry, you have a conscious plan," writes Marche. His full explanation of the system is here.