Parents often wonder if there is something they can do in their parenting style to help their special needs child be successful. The good news is that there is a lot you can do. There is basically four different styles of parenting. Three of them don't work very well, and one of them works very well. That's the one you want to focus on. The three that don't work so well are the tyrant, the pushover, and the complainer. We want to try and eliminate those from our repertiore. We want to be a mentor. Mentors know how to teach kids their potential. You don't want to make your parenting decisions out of automatic reactions. You don't want to parent when you are frustrated. What you want to do is think for yourself, "What do I want my child to be when my child grows up?" If you are like most parents, you want your child to be successful, self-confident, intelligent, cooperative, and have a good relationship with others. When you stop in the moment and you are trying to make a parenting decision, remember who you are trying to raise. You are trying to raise someone who is self-confident, who can think things through, who can make good decisions, who is decent and kind. Act from that standpoint, and you'll make the right decision.