Adolescence is a period of intense growth. The parents of young teens often feel like their child has changed overnight, becoming moody, withdrawn, and difficult to reach. Newly altered behaviour and speech patterns can make it seem like your teen is suddenly speaking a foreign language—leading to frequent disagreements and misunderstandings. The first step to interacting with your teen ...
Frequent interruptions are a fact of life for the parents of young children. Preschool-aged kids seldom wait for their turn to speak, even when their parents are occupied with an activity or speaking to someone else. Though this behaviour can feel disruptive, it’s not intentionally rude; toddlers are only just emerging from infancy, so they still think that the ...
Parenting and perspective don't always go hand in hand. Caught up in the myriad stresses of day-to-day life, parents often become overwhelmed and lose sight of what is truly important to them: raising their children in a calm, stable, and compassionate household. Challenging situations (or periods) can provoke extreme emotional reactions that undermine parents’ faith in their abilities and erode ...
Politics has always been a controversial topic, but rarely has our political climate been as divisive as it is right now. Not only has society become more politically polarized over the last two decades, but the way we express our views has also changed. Political discussion has largely moved away from policy and instead become an issue of morality, with ...
The last two years have been a period of prolonged stress and isolation for many people, leading to an increase ...
Autism has been in the spotlight for many years. In movies, television, and novels, autistic characters are portrayed ...
While most of the issues adopted children face while growing up differ little from the challenges experienced by non-adopted children, ...
Many parents who criticize their children have good intentions. They often hope that by pointing out their child’s errors, they can help her (or him) overcome problem behaviours, learn the skills she needs to succeed socially and academically, and develop a strong sense of personal accountability. They intend, at base, to guide their child. Unfortunately, parents don’t always ...
One of the biggest myths about children is the idea that they lack empathy by nature. In reality, though children can be self-focused and lack knowledge and perspective, they’re hard-wired to feel empathy for others. How much this quality develops, however, is largely dependent on how a child is raised. Empathy is, after all, part instinct and part learned ...
For years, low self-esteem was used as something of a catch-all scapegoat. If a child was bullying others, failing at school, or getting into trouble, his (or her) self-esteem was the first place parents and teachers looked when trying to solve the issue. Recently, however, research has corrected some of our prior assumptions about self-esteem: In actuality, low self-esteem is ...
When we’re observing someone else’s behaviour, it’s easy to appreciate the value of self-restraint. When we coach our children to “take a deep breath” or have a time out when they’re upset, for example, the value of emotional management becomes plain to see. Sometimes, however, we don’t recognize our own need for self-regulation strategies. Parenting ...
