There are many apps available to check your infant or child’s developmental milestones. While these can be useful tools, it’s important not to become obsessed about the timing of your child’s milestones.
Many of these purchasable apps provide an indicator of ‘red flags’ for when your child is not meeting a milestone at the expected level. Parents need to be very careful about not letting these apps contribute to unnecessary anxiety and stress.
For children who are anxious, constantly asking for reassurance or repeating worrying thoughts is a typical part of daily family life.
Of course, it’s natural to want to reassure your child when they are worried about something…
But when the worry is irrational, constant reassurance could actually be making it worse.
Here are six ways that excessive reassurance can worsen anxiety in children:
This inspiring TED talk by Para-Olympian, Karni Liddell, has really got a lot of people thinking about how we look at disability.
She begins by drawing our attention to the conversations so many parents-to-be have when they are asked “What do you want to have – a boy or a girl?” and the socially-acceptable answer they tend to respond with: “All I want is a healthy baby”.
Nothing particularly shocking in that exchange, right?
But, Karni asks us to consider “Does a healthy baby necessary equal a happy baby?”.
“Wow, Tommy that is the best drawing I’ve ever seen!”
“Jessie, you are the best in the class at maths, you did that sum so quickly!”
As parents and educators, you are told that giving a child praise is a great way to improve their motivation, their self-confidence and their perseverance when things get difficult.
“Be specific with your praise!”
“Praise can be even more motivating than rewarding with material things”, many experts espouse.
But recent studies have shown that praise in certain formats may actually have the opposite effect to that which we are trying to achieve.
Researchers looked at the impact of “inflated” praise on children with both low and high self-esteem and found some interesting things:
“Women are so much better at multi-tasking than men” is a commonly heard boast.
With our busy schedules, fast-paced lives and many commitments, the ability to multi-task has long been something to aspire to, something that is supposed to give us more time, make us more efficient, and perhaps even make us more desirable as employees.
However, the research in this area suggests that we may, in fact, be less efficient if we try to do more than one thing at a time. We might get everything finished quicker so we can get more time on the couch but may be also be more likely to make a mistake, forget a step, or end up with a less-than-perfect result.
Well, before you stop trying to brush your hair while you are waiting for the toast to pop up and decide to stand there staring blankly at the wall like a nincompoop, there are a number of factors involved.
So let me help you make the decision about whether or not to multi-task…
Chores are a great way to teach children about responsibility and work ethic.
Sharing chores in the family teaches kids the importance of helping out and supporting each other. Chores also help kids develop independence-skills and a sense of feeling proud about making a contribution to the family.
Although young children may not be able to do chores to your standard, kids eventually learn how to do the job properly. The key is to start as early as possible with simple tasks and then build upon what they can do. While it may take double the amount of time to complete the chore at the beginning, it will save you heaps of time in the future.
I think it’s safe to say that most parents want to do whatever they can to support their child.
Now, imagine that your child has been diagnosed with a learning difficulty, with Aspergers Syndrome or Autism, maybe they are experiencing bullying at school, have anxiety or depression or another mental health issue.
Whatever the case, it is instinct to want to give your child a big cuddle and then get straight onto calling up the school, confronting the bully, researching interventions and generally doing whatever you can to rectify the situation or at least ease their struggles a bit.
You can be racked with guilt about “where” and “how” the problem came about in the first place and why you didn’t notice it sooner.
You may lie awake at night trying to figure out how your darling angel must be feeling and spend hours analysing everything they did and said that day…
Recent news of a teenager charged with the murder of one of Melbourne’s homeless citizens has many people worried. News has speculated that the accused young man had recently started using cannabis, and this changed his behaviour.
It’s important to remember that media portrayals of mental illness tend to be inflammatory, and can often imply a causal link between drug use, mental illness and crime.
Nevertheless, it’s a timely reminder for parents and their adolescents to improve their awareness of evidence-based research in the area of cannabis use. There is an association between cannabis use and mental illness, but it’s not a causal link.
This means that cannabis use has not been shown to directly ‘cause’ mental illness, but there is a potential for it to exacerbate difficulties in someone who is already vulnerable to mental illness.
Summer holidays are just around the corner! If your plan is to stay in Melbourne, there is no need to worry about what to do with the kids as there are lots of fun holiday programs for kids of all ages and interests.
Here are some of my favourites:
Whether it is tantrums, anxiety, defiance or any other number of problem behaviours, you want to try everything you possibly can to help your child overcome challenges and thrive.
But trying EVERYTHING in a short space of time is often what tends to happen when desperate parents seek advice from other parents, friends, teachers and professionals…
The common story goes something like this:
“Jack was throwing tantrums and becoming easily upset by small things. We have tried reward charts, time-out, getting him to play more sport, arranging playdates with other children, changing his diet, getting him to bed earlier, giving him more time and attention, talking to his teacher…”
And often the outcome is this:
“Some of the things we tried worked a little bit but he can still get really upset and angry. We’re at our wits end!”
Many of the things you are putting in place might be useful but it is important to think things through before deciding to implement changes in your child’s life.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
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(*As of 24th July, 2019.)