Situation: Your recently potty trained three-year old reverts to pooping in his pants every day, shrugging his shoulders apathetically when you point out that he should be using the potty.

DO: Offer him a reasonable incentive to encourage him to get back on track.
DO: Put the ball in his court and allow him as much control of the process as possible.
DON'T: Tell him that his preschool teacher will turn him out of the classroom and make him walk home alone if he creates a stink at school as bad as the one he made standing next to you right now.  

Situation: Your oldest son is beating his brother with a Hot Wheels car. You take the car (a Land Rover) away from him and put it on top of the fridge. The oldest son then stalks you around the house, endlessly whining that he "waaaaaants the Laaaaand Roveeeeeeeeer, Moooommy. Moooomy? I waaaant it! Mommy!! Mommy, look at me talking to you! I. WANT. MY. LAND. ROOOOOOVER!”

DO: Tell him you're sorry, but he lost that toy for hitting and maybe he can have it back tomorrow.
DO: Walk away and ignore the tantrum as it escalates.
DON'T: Go beet red and shout, "If I hear the word 'Land Rover' one more time, I'm going to take the Land Rover, throw it in the driveway, and run it over with my car!"

Situation: Your 3 year old child has climbed into his baby sister's crib and attempted to pick her up and heave her over the rail because "she wanted to get up." You catch him mid-act.
DO: Calmly and sternly tell him no and explain how he could have hurt the baby.
DO: Make him promise to tell mommy if he thinks the baby wants to get up and to never try to lift the baby by himself.
DON'T: Take one look at the scene and yell, "HEY! Put her DOWN! Don't you DARE do that!" therefore startling the boy and causing him to drop the baby he's trying to lift (albeit back into the crib instead of over the side of the crib, thank the lord).

Situation: You would like to take your toddler to story time at the library. Unfortunately, unlike all the other well-behaved, quietly engaged story-time attendees, your son is incapable of civilized library behavior and  prefers to run amok, raking books down from the shelves as he speeds by.

DO: Explain the rules of the library and lay out your expectations for the child’s behavior succinctly and clearly before entering the building.
DO: Roll play the situation at home to help your child learn how to act at the library.
DON'T: Wait until the child becomes disruptive during story hour then hiss into his ear that if he continues to be rude, there will be a punishment, prompting him to scream, as you drag him out of the Story Room, with all the nicely dressed, well-behaved children looking on with horror," "Moooooommmy! Please don't hit me! Please doooon't hiiiiit me!" even though you’ve spanked the child maybe twice in his entire young life.

Situation: Your child has a tantrum in the toy store because he doesn’t want to leave. You're wearing an infant in a sling, so you have limited mobility. The tantruming child goes boneless on you in the parking lot while dozens of other parents whose children are sitting quietly in shopping carts look on.

DO: Firmly take him by the arm and march him to a place where you are out of the public eye.
DO: Wait for him to calm down, remain calm yourself, and then ask him to tell you why he's upset.
DON’T: Tell your child through clenched teeth that he can go ahead and holler about his knees scraping asphalt, maybe he should have thought of that before he decided to cause a scene. Then, when you finally reach the car, by now crazed with embarrassment and anger and sputtering half-formed obscenities, DON'T manhandle him into his car seat with such force that you fear a parking lot security camera will catch the act and someone will send the tape to the local news, where they will run it with the headline, “Crazed Mother takes Shopping Stress Out on Small, Blameless Boy Who Only Wanted One More Minute.”