Today, many parents and educators work vigilantly to guide children along the “right” path, hoping it will lead to a bright future. Adults, naturally, believe they know just what that path should look like, often drawing on their own experience or colleagues’ advice. But this top-down approach often leaves parents feeling pressured, educators struggling, and youth stressed and lagging behind their international peers.

All children act in annoying, obnoxious, or hurtful ways at times, and they don't always cooperate with our requests. Before dealing with inappropriate behavior in children, it is useful to know why they act the way they do. Once we know this, it is easier to be effective problem-solvers. We can explain almost all unacceptable behavior in children by one of the following three factors.

1. The child is attempting to fill a legitimate need.

Digital media exposure for children of all ages should be limited, according to new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

This week, the AAP hosted a national conference in San Francisco, where an estimated 10,000 pediatricians met to discuss new children's health recommendations for 2017. Children's screen time, social media and cyberbullying were key points of interest.

Recently, my younger daughter left her class project, a time capsule, at the door so I would see it the minute I got home.

Her project wasn't due for a month, and she took it upon herself to start it and finish it. I beamed at her great work ethic.

If the story ended here, I would proudly say I am one of those parents who is totally comfortable with the whole "letting my kids fail" concept, but alas, there is more.

A quarter of UK children aged between 11 and 15 have been offered substances, which can be a worry for many parents. Starting discussions early can be crucial when it comes to legal and illegal highs, says psychiatrist Dr Owen Bowden-Jones.

Discovering your child is taking drugs is every parent's nightmare, and most would go to great lengths to ensure illegal substances - or even legal highs - are never part of their child's world.

In the 1960s, the struggle was for black civil rights. The 1970s saw the stepping up of the fight to free the world from apartheid. And in recent years, we have seen the battle for LGBT equality.

The freedom struggle of the coming decade is the battle for the rights of children - rights too often neglected or ignored. By fulfilling our promise to a deliver a quality education to the world's young, we can be the first generation in history where every child goes to school.

As world leaders head to New York for a major U.N. summit on the refugee and migrant crisis, aid chiefs called on rich countries to shoulder their fair share of responsibility.

The meeting on Monday, the first of its kind, comes at a time of record displacement, with 65.3 million people uprooted by conflict and persecution. It will be followed by a second summit on Tuesday hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

My children are 7 and 10 years old. I am in the middle of a divorce that has been very difficult. My younger one is having meltdowns over little things like homework and the older one is getting in trouble at school. Neither wants to talk about what’s going on but it’s obvious that they are hurting. I didn’t want to end the marriage so it’s been very hard for me to help my kids when my heart is broken. What can I do to help them?

When it comes to deciding whether and how to talk to children about their own health, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula, some doctors argue.

Over the years, the pendulum has swung from a “protective” approach of telling kids little or nothing to avoid worrying them about bad news to an “open” approach of giving children all the facts and empowering them to make their own treatment choices.

Can a dog ever be trusted around children? A three-year-old boy has died from dog bite injuries. He's just one of a number of young victims killed by a family pet. These aren't necessarily animals known to be dangerous and on the banned list, or cases of children caught up in a dogfight in the park.

So can any dog - no matter how docile - "turn" and injure or kill a child?

It would seem so.