I admit it, I?m not the most consistent person. I like to eat when I?m hungry and sleep when I?m tired. When I do the same thing the same way two days running, it feels boring. But then along came my two kids, and I ran into trouble.
My parenting style was a chaotic mess of asking, bribing, cajoling, lecturing, yelling and blowing my top. Until one Saturday, three years ago, when my kids trashed a bedroom, piling the mattress, stuffies, and storybooks into a mountain. When they ignored all requests to clean up. I realized then they had no framework of rules and predictable consequences to worry about. The spontaneity I valued in my own life suddenly looked less appealing when embraced by hedonistic under-fives.
A recent study in the UK found that limited screen time and regular bedtimes and mealtimes for preschoolers boost emotional development. I wanted my girls to thrive, so it was time to get serious about building habits that would serve them well now and later in life. Here are some of the scenarios that tripped me up, along with expert solutions on how to handle them. Some even have a little wiggle room built in. The oh-so-public tantrum

The scenario: Four-year-old Lily used to have a meltdown when her seven-year-old sister, Cassidy, ran ahead on the walk to school. She?d throw herself on the sidewalk and refuse to budge. There I?d be, yelling at one kid to come back and at the other to get up, under the withering glare of every parent in proximity.
At home, my wife...