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A parenting expert on how to regain authority with your kids in 7 steps

Dr. Leonard Sax says parents should ask their kids to be something — not just do something — take on chores, and more.

Video originally posted by Maclean's.

Last year, a much-read Maclean's piece theorized that parents were letting their kids boss them around. In her cover story, Cathy Gulli wrote that parents have lost confidence and given up their authority in an attempt to avoid conflict with their children. Dr. Leonard Sax, an American psychologist and author of The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups, gives the example of how parents are letting vegetable enforcement slide at the dinner table. "A rule such as 'no dessert until you eat your broccoli' has recently morphed into 'How about three bites of broccoli, and then you can have dessert?,' writes Gulli. Dr. Sax puts it simply: commands have become a question capped with a bribe.

This new Maclean's video summarizes some of Sax's takeaways from the story. From teaching humility and addressing bloated self-esteem, to being firm and changing the way you talk to your children, it's a good conversation starter to breaking down a "culture of disrepect." It confirms what we already knew: parents need to be grown-up.

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