Beginning Friday, April 1, NBC News' "Today" will open up a month long dialogue about parenting with the help of the world's leading experts on the subject — parents themselves. The 30-day series, "Raising Kids 'Today:' 30 Days of Secrets from Parent to Parent," will tackle the questions, concerns, and worries that most parents face as they try to raise their children in such complex times.
Each week the series will focus on a parenting issue, with daily segments exploring the various aspects of each of these issues. Every Friday NBC News' "Today" Parenting Contributor and family therapist, Ruth Peters will answer viewer questions live on-air.
The schedule for the series topics includes:
Week One: BehaviorBad language, dishonesty: lying, cheating, stealing, discipline: what works, what doesn't, helping the shy, cautious, nervous child.
Week Two: Family Dynamics
Sibling rivalry, tough conversations: sickness, divorce, death, shared parenting: child rearing with your ex, step parenting
Week Three: Education Homework, when a parent and teacher disagree, how to have a well-rounded child without over-scheduling or over-stimulating, how to motivate a child academically: different means for different ages.
Week Four: Growth and DevelopmentWhen to start chores, dating, make-up, being alone, etc; handling rejection: from friends, sports, other activities, etc.; when your child's friends and their parents have different values, limits, from yours, "keeping up with the Joneses" raising children in a materialistic world
All guests throughout this series will be parents, and as parents themselves — Katie, Matt, Al and Ann will share their parenting stories with viewers and discuss what's worked — and what hasn't from their parenting experiences.
MSNBC.com's health section will showcase a number of features including a Q&A on what to do when parents and teens clash over religion, feeding picky eaters, combating shyness and bullying, how to avoid "over-parenting" and an in-depth look at a new study on families called, "Strained life of the nonstop American family." Also featured will be interactive elements including guides and quizzes about childhood vaccinations, SIDS, kids' injuries, bed-wetting and parenting in sports.
Today.MSNBC.com will have daily quizzes that test users' knowledge on topics to be discussed the next day on "Today". On Fridays, a "mailbag" feature will have expert "Today" guests answer viewers' parenting questions.
In addition, MSNBC.com will have free video and transcripts of the segments from "Today".
Tom Touchet is the executive producer of "Today" (Monday-Friday, 7-10 a.m.). Betsy Alexander is the senior producer responsible for "Raising Kids 'Today:' 30 Days of Secrets from Parent to Parent."