After a 3-year run, the Daddy-O blog is winding down as I move from the children and families beat at the Star Tribune to the health and medicine beat. Thanks to readers for all of their ideas and comments that kept this lively blog cruising! As part of the transition, I am once again sorting through the massive pile of parenting self-help books that come my way.

So here is my third and final installment of "the best parenting advice I gleaned from books I only had time to skim!"

From socialsklz :-) for success by Faye De Muyshondt, regarding the importance of eye contact in an introduction:

From Teach Your Children Well, by Madeline Levine, about teaching children the value of hard work:

From The Big Disconnect, by Catherine Steiner-Adair, about the growing importance of family communication:

From The Parent Backpack for Kindergarten through Grade 5, by ML Nichols, about one of the five mistakes parents make with teachers:

From The Last Boys Picked, by Janet Sasson Edgette, about what to do if a child refuses to go to a scheduled sport or activity:

From Raising Financially Fit Kids, by Joline Godfrey, on dealing with peer pressure and money decisions for tweens: