Enfield resident Bill Corbett is the author of the book, “Love, Limits , & Lessons,” which is a parenting guide designed to help readers raise cooperative children. Corbett also travels around the country teaching a parenting class. His teachings focus on balancing the home, creating structure for children and allowing parents to learn why their child misbehaves.

Corbett based his book and class on methodology developed by two psychologists , Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikers , who believed that a child needs a place in the home and a parent needs to learn how to read a child’s behavior.

“A child communicates through their behavior,” said Corbett, “When a child feels like they have a place, they feel like they’re a member of the team, there’s less need for them to act out and misbehave because they’re getting their needs met. Everyone wants to feel like they belong somewhere.”

Another important component of Corbett’s methods for raising cooperative kids is understanding how to be firm and loving. He stressed that it’s important for parents to set boundaries, be firm and stay consistent and to give children accountability rather than doing too much for them. Also, having structure in the home is key. “Parents have difficulty creating structure,” said Corbett. According to him, many parents may feel guilty because they don’t have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with their kids because of work and other outside responsibilities, therefore when it comes to parenting, they tend to give in to their kids more and lose their ability to be firm.

Not only does Corbett work with parents , but he is also making his way into the classroom. He has a new program coming out soon which he developed in hopes of helping teachers with their students’ behavior. Because teachers handle a much larger group of children, there are different ways of communicating with them and getting them to respond and behave.

One interesting area that Corbett explores in the world of raising children is what causes kids to misbehave in the first place. One reason, he explains, goes back to the need for communication . Another reason is because the child feels disconnected from their parents , “It’s no different for us, as adults. If you have somebody close to you in your life, and you can tell that they are so distant and they’re busy, sometimes you just want to grab them by the arm and say, ‘Hey! Pay attention to me!’ If children feel disconnected, that’s when they’re going to act out,” said Corbett.

Corbett has lived in Enfield for two years with his wife, Elizabeth. He has three grown children and two grandchildren . He is the oldest of eight children . He began his research in the area of children and parenting around 1990, when his eldest daughter was 10 years old. He then took college courses in Early Childhood Studies and developed his own course, which he uses today to teach parents. Corbett taught his first course in 1995 to a small group in North Hampton, Mass. He now travels all over the country teaching courses and training others to teach it, as well. He will be in Enfield on Oct. 15. The parenting course is already filled, due to his growing national popularity. If there are any questions about Bill Corbett and his business, he welcomes visitors to his Web site, www.CooperativeKids.com.