I have a few favorite parenting books that I’ve read and re-read, books such as Faber and Mazlish’s How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk and Siblings Without Rivalry; Schulman and Birnbaum’s Practical Wisdom for Parents; and Thompson’s Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children.

In today’s Little Happier, I talk about a truth from Michael Thompson’s book Mom, They’re Teasing Me: Helping Your Child Solve Social Problems that I find both sad and reassuring: we can’t spare our children normal social pain.

Sidenote: One thing I’ve learned is that advice that’s great for children usually applies equally well for adults. I apply most of what I’ve learned from these books to my adult relationships, with equal success. For instance, when I was researching habits for Better Than Before, I did a fair amount of research on the design of pre-school and kindergarten routines.