Ames's work found that children go through clear, discrete developmental phases based on age.
She demonstrated that various age groups feature unique behavioral patterns, to be considered by parents and doctors in monitoring children's development.
Perhaps the best-known legacy of her work was the coining of the term "Terrible Twos," to describe the rigid, conflict-laden behavioral patterns of two-year-olds.
That same year, she joined the Yale Clinic of Child Development as research assistant to Arnold Gesell.
In her work with the council, she conducted a large-scale survey with Harriet Fjeld of women psychologists' professional experiences.
The question-and-answer column featured write-in questions from parents and advised them with an eye towards child developmental psychology.
The column ran for a number of years, leading to their popular book, also titled Child Behavior (1981).
In 1962, Bates and Ilg changed the name of the column to Parents Ask, which was the title of another widely selling book they published together that year.
At the same time, Bates also worked on a half hour weekly TV show called Child Behavior.