By Hillary Anger Elfenbein; Washington University in St. Louis

So your three-year-old comes home and tells you that he wants chocolate for dinner. Now what?

Hillary Anger Elfenbein

If you’re anything like me, you start by trying to sell him on what else you’ve prepared. This approach doesn’t work very well, and then he throws himself on the floor.

When this happened recently, I took a deep breath and reached for inspiration from one of the best advice books out there: “Playful Parenting” by Lawre...