The children's sections at bookstores tend to be outfitted with the trappings of fantasy. I've seen many dressed up like treehouses or castles with cardboard turrets topping bookshelves. No matter the motif, the effect is the same: Books, children are to understand, are a chance to escape reality and its many limitations.

When worrying gets in the way of a child’s functioning, parents need to get help rather than arranging the child’s life to avoid the occasions of anxiety.

While some kids may be lucky enough to skate through their parents' separation relatively unscathed, the majority are going to suffer at least some short-term, if not longer-term, distress.

As an adult, you've likely forgotten just how central your family was to your sense of stability and even identity.

Children have yet to develop autonomy, independence or a secure sense of self; instead, their entire frame of reference is strongly centred around their family.

I recently eavesdropped on a table of three women I discerned had children close in age to my 11-year-old son, Thorin. They were talking about camp. I had some interest. My son attended two camps this summer and he has another two coming up.

The tone of the conversation changed quickly from lighthearted to somber when one of the moms gravely warned another not to look at the new photos on the camp's Facebook page. Her friend clutched at her neck. "Oh, no," she said. "What happened?"

Feeding children can be a roller-coaster ride. Some days, children cruise along, eating most of what you serve. Then without warning, they take a dive and consume very little. This lasts just as long as you can cope, then they rise through a growth spurt to empty the refrigerator daily, only to plateau before they prepare for another dive.

After months of asking, you took the plunge, and now your kid has a phone. Inevitably, soon after the smartphone comes social media (insert parental scream). For most parents, social media feels scary when they think about their kids using it. Why is it such a potential pit of despair for parents?

It could happen at any time: Eventually, your kids may want their own social media accounts.

"If you have a teen or tween, you should expect them to come home around the beginning of the school year and say, 'Oh, I want to download so-'n'-so,' " said Caroline Knorr, a San Francisco-based parenting expert with the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media.

Yet at what age do most children launch their own social media presence?

A few weeks ago I left my 9-year-old daughter home alone for the first time. It did not go as planned.

As a researcher and writer on the intersection of happiness and technology, I often talk to parents who are concerned about their children’s welfare in the digital era. “Electronics are destroying our children’s imagination,” they say. And I get it—I’m a parent of three young children, and I am also concerned about raising mindful kids who know how to handle the world of digital distraction. But I fear that we, as parents, might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater by rejecting electronics as a way to spark creativity and innovation.

Two decades ago, when I was in the second grade, a substitute teacher asked me to stand up in front of my class and talk about my religion: Sikhism. At 7 years old, I tried to explain it as best I could and avoid being ridiculed. I remember feeling totally unprepared and struggling afterward with the fear of being exposed like that again. At 7, I was already afraid of public speaking.