Quotes from Jancee Dunn

I'm a sucker for a man who giggles-not a high-pitched serial-killer sort of giggle, but a lighthearted laugh.

Even when they are asleep, infants as young as six months react negatively to angry, argumentative voices, as University of Oregon researchers discovered by measuring brain activity of babies in the presence of steadily rising voices. Babies raised by unhappily married parents have been shown to have a host of developmental problems, from delayed speech and potty training to a reduced ability to self-soothe.

They found that the day after a parental skirmish, most moms were able to compartmentalize and reported a quick recovery, and even an improved relationship with their child. But fathers had a much greater tendency to let the negative marital tension spill over into the rest of the family. Insidiously, the conflict from these parental fights would resurface on the first or even second day after the fight, in the form of friction between father and child.

I grabbed Sylvie's hand and raced downstairs, passing Tom on the couch. His blank eyes were bathed in the soft glow of his smartphone. He quickly knotted his forehead in a feigned look of earnest importance, as if he was attending to some pressing work matter. But I knew exactly what he was doing. He was playing SocialChess with some guy in the Philippines. I was just playing for a minute, he tells me later. During our fight.

The cruel paradox of weekends with kids can be boiled down to this: Parents want to relax. Kids do not.

Perhaps the knowledge that certain behaviors are in some sense hardwired in your spouse—rather than a conscious choice to stick it to you—will help dial down the frustration.

Mothers have to do a poo in four parts because a child will cry, and then they try and finish off but the child needs them again!

mothers drove the fathers' cortisol changes, while, in a dismaying trickle-down effect, fathers drove changes in their kids' cortisol.

men think the uterus is a tracking device.)

amygdala-centered network, which handles strong emotion, vigilance, and attention, was activated, which configured the dads' brains in a similar way that pregnancy and childbirth do for mothers. The research suggests that the neural circuitry that powers the so-called maternal instinct can be developed by fathers.

choice increases the likelihood of compliance. It's not the choice itself that's important, it's the feeling that the person has a choice that makes a difference in behavior.

My husband works all week, so on weekends, he tells me he doesn't want to "deal with" our sons. I'm amazed that he doesn't notice that I'm basically radiating hatred all the time.

I'm emptying the dishwasher and Brian starts grabbing my boobs. I've had kids pawing me all day long, so that's not hot. If you want some action, help me unload the dishes, idiot.

But if you use her psychological trick and view sleep as the beginning of the following day, it can be easier to slip into the sheets.

studies have shown that married fathers still spend more time in shared leisure activities with their sons, and children of both genders receive greater attention from their father when there is a son in the family.

Finally, the simplest, easiest Everybody Sort of Wins: Tom now sleeps in on Saturdays, and I sleep in on Sundays. Everybody sort of nearly wins! For the most part!

it's not children who extinguish the flame of desire—it's the adults who fail to keep the spark alive.

And the key to locking in lasting participation down the line, he says, is to emphasize chores as a group effort by using the word "we"—"We need to get this done" or "Let's clean up the living room.

Rossmann pored over data that followed kids across four periods in their lives, ending in their mid-twenties. Those who began chores at three or four were more likely to have solid relationships with their families and friends, to be self-sufficient, and to achieve academic and early professional success.

I know, and I appreciate that," says Dinah, getting up to extract a container of yogurt from the fridge, which completes her improvised dinner—"but I have to say that I am really, really tired of having to ask you to do things.

The craving to be valued, he adds, is not a male impulse, but a human one.

Research shows that doing chores makes children thrive in countless ways, and is a proven predictor of success, says Richard Rende, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School.

Behavioral Change Stairway Model, five steps that include active listening, showing empathy, building rapport, and gaining influence—which leads, finally, to the fifth step: behavioral change.

Who thinks to interview their own mother? As a self-fixated teen, I never imagined that she had an actual personal history. To my young eyes, she was Source of Cash Obsessed With De-Cluttering