As a Capricorn parent, your focus is on working hard for your family and meeting your responsibilities. In fact, you may work a little too hard! Your intentions are good, but you can place too much importance on being a dutiful provider and not enough on other things that truly matter, such as spending quality time with your kids and developing a warm, nurturing connection with them.

You might be more comfortable with the rigors of your career and trying to make ends meet than you are with sticky emotional situations with your children, but you have an ace in the hole: Capricorns, by nature, seek constant improvement. If there's something lacking in your relationship with your children, you can identify the problem and work to correct it.

You'll teach your kids about the value of money and reliability, and you'll educate them in the importance of keeping their promises. In fact, you'll be a real authority figure in their lives. They'll respect you; you might even intimidate them without realizing it or meaning to do so.

Part of your job as a parent will be learning to lighten up a bit and become more affectionate and spontaneous. This way, you can create a balance between work and play, and your children will love and appreciate you even more for the effort. You'll set a positive example for them when it comes to maturity, planning, and working steadily toward your goals. Just don't be too hard on them if they're not quite as driven as you are.

As a Libra parent, you try to create a peaceful and harmonious home life for your children. It's important to you to bring up your family in beautiful, even luxurious surroundings, and you do what you can to avoid conflict in the home. Thus, you might be a bit of a pushover, especially if your kids are particularly assertive or if they learn to manipulate you to get what they want.

Good thing you're so in touch with your core values and beliefs. This will help you put your foot down when necessary and bring the right influences into your children's lives -- without going overboard, of course. You can't help but instill a sense of taste and style in your children, since aesthetic concerns are a natural part of your personality.

You enjoy playing the host or hostess at social gatherings and inviting friends into your home, and you'll make sure to teach your children about treating others with courtesy and respect. Your kids may rely on you to settle disputes when sibling rivalries flare. Since you're uncomfortable with tension, this won't be a role you relish, but you're a born diplomat, so it's actually a good fit for you. This is a natural opportunity to teach your children about compromise and cooperation, two of your strong suits.

Since you tend to be indecisive, you'll need to make sure that you demonstrate firm consistency with your kids whenever necessary. It's wonderful to be part of a close-knit, affectionate family, but you'll also need to command their respect.

Capricorn

Libra

You two will have very different attitudes toward parenting, particularly when it comes to discipline. You'll have to talk things out and find agreement, but when it comes to compromise one of you will give more than the other! The Libra parent is diplomatic, kind, and yielding. You preserve peace through negotiation. Unfortunately, your need to be loved makes you a real softie with the kids. You have a hard time saying "no," something they will use to their advantage.

The Capricorn mom or dad, on the other hand, can be quite rigid and inflexible. When it comes to enforcing the rules, you're the one. You don't relish being the "bad guy" all the time, but someone's got to do it! As a team, you must be careful in your parenting dynamic, so the discipline tasks don't always fall to just one person.

Whenever there's tension in the house, your Libra son or daughter will switch into peacemaker mode. Libra children want everyone to get along, and conflict distresses them. If they're born into a noisy, expressive family, they'll have to learn to assert themselves in the midst of it, which can be very difficult for children of this sign.

In general, harmony is a primary concern of Libra children, and they'll do what they can to ensure it. This includes being affectionate with their parents, siblings, and friends.

Libra children instinctively understand the old saying about drawing flies with honey. They're sweet and naturally polite, but their urge to please everyone can lead to difficulties.

They may be indecisive -- worried that any decision they make could offend someone or cause hurt feelings. They also have a hard time stating their opinion in an assertive way, which means they could let their friends run all over them as they try to accommodate everyone.

On the brighter side, their innate social skills and strong sense of justice make them a fine friend. They also have a well-developed sense of balance and refined tastes even at an early age.

Natural negotiators, Libra children excel in bringing people together, creating compromise and seeking cooperation rather than conflict. As the parent of a Libra child, your job will include teaching him -- gently! -- that occasional disagreements are a natural, unavoidable part of life. Help him build his self-confidence and realize that being opinionated and assertive aren't the same as being offensive.

Establishing a schedule for meals and household duties, sticking to a regular bedtime routine -- these are the cornerstones of your parenting theory. You believe your family's contentment and security depend on having a well-defined system in place, but your Libra child isn't as concerned as you are with material security. Sweet-natured and affectionate, she'd much rather receive your warm, spontaneous hug than high praise for taking out the trash without being asked.

Still, little Libra wants to please you, so she'll find ways to secure that approval. But hard work isn't really in Libra's nature. This popular child is built for enjoying parties, playdates, and the company of good friends. In your eyes, these amount to little more than pointless leisure activities, but don't begrudge your little Libra her social life. This child is a born networker, and someday, those childhood connections could turn into important career contacts.

Peace, justice, and harmony. This is what both of you seek in your personal and family life. Conflict will be a rare visitor to your home because both of you strive to avoid it. This has its good points and its bad points: Good because you and your children can depend on a quiet, calm, and serene environment at home. Bad because by avoiding conflict and struggles, you may not teach your children the skills they need to deal with the inevitable difficulties that arise between humans. That would be unfortunate, because cooperation, negotiation, and diplomacy are among the Libra parent's greatest talents!

Overcome your discomfort with conflict and your family will function better. When it comes to discipline, don't let your need to be "nice" interfere with enforcing the rules. Children need strong, firm guidance even from the most gentle parents.