Question: We recently found racy pictures on my 13-year-old son’s smart phone. The women were not nude, much less participating in sex acts, but were wearing very revealing bikinis, short skirts, and halter tops. Their poses were very provocative as well. My husband says this is normal stuff and wants to completely ignore it. I say we should deal with it. What say you?

Question: My one-year-old has started slapping us. He also screams a lot, often for no reason, or at least we can’t figure out the reason. He is a very busy little boy and won’t sit still for longer than a few seconds. Is it too early to begin disciplining him?

Question: Several years ago, I married a widower who never disciplined his children. They are now 9, 14, and 16 and he still has a very difficult time denying them anything. I love them very much and think of them as my own, but I often feel like the “bad guy.” In this situation, should he be the main disciplinarian? He’s given me the responsibility (he has a very demanding job, thus his at-home hours are not reliable) and sometimes I feel like I’m drowning!

Question: Our 4-year-old daughter’s weight (25 pounds) is at the first percentile for her age, but she is otherwise healthy, energetic, creative, polite, and well-behaved. Our only real problem occurs at meals during which she picks at and dawdles over her food. We end up coaxing her to finish, telling her how important it is for her to eat so she’ll grow, and so on. Sometimes, she has been there so long we’ve taken her plate away, but we are reluctant to do that because we don’t want her losing any weight. Are we worrying for nothing?

A young mother who identified herself as a practitioner of “attachment parenting” recently told me that “children should be approached with reverence.” If the rest of my conversation with her was indication, I don’t think she used those words loosely.

Question: I gave birth to our second child a few weeks ago so I’m sleep-deprived and running low on patience. In the meantime, my 3-year-old son has become another person. He has regressed with potty training; he isn’t cooperating with me about anything; and he laughs when I put him in time-out, like it’s a joke. I find myself yelling and threatening constantly. Is this directly related to having a new sibling? If so, will it pass? By the way, he seems to like the idea of being a big brother. He’s very sweet to him and tries to help me when I’m tending to him.

Question: My twin boys will be 3 years old next month. They sleep in the same room. They’ve recently taken to getting out of their beds (together, although one seems to be the ringleader) every night, over and over, for up to two hours. They make a lot of noise, then they giggle and run when I approach, and feed off each other as they’re escaping. I’m not sure what to do. All I know is that what I’ve been doing isn’t working! Help!!!

Question: In the last month, our 36-month-old daughter has started biting her 22-month-old brother, usually over toy struggles. It is always to get his hand to release the toy in question. I’m sorry to say that when she bites, I lose it. My husband says I should put her in her room until he gets home from work no matter what time of day the biting occurs. She is currently in her room until dad gets home. I worry that this is too much for a child her age, but then again, time-outs are a joke. Help!

Question: Using the “ticket method” you have described in previous newspaper columns and books, I began my 4-year-old daughter’s rehabilitation program this week. When she loses all five of her tickets, she has to spend the rest of the day in her room and go to bed at 7 pm instead of 8:30. One day she lost all of her tickets by mid-morning so I sent her to her room. She came out repeatedly and told me she wasn’t going to stay in there. So, I removed all toys from her room and told her that for each time she came out, she would have another night with a 7 pm bedtime. Is that the proper thing to do?

Question: When a parent is giving a child an instruction, like “pick up your toys,” should the parent use “please”? My wife says we should model the behavior we want from our kids, but I say it’s unnecessary.