The word “spoiled” has been used so extensively that its meaning seems, for many parents, hopelessly vague and indefinite. The concept is blurred both by generational differences and by the fact that the term “spoiled” can also have positive connotations—it's often associated with being indulged at Christmas and on birthdays, for instance, or with the attention of doting relatives. ...
Children, as any parent knows, can be baffling and unpredictable; they may tantrum seemingly out of nowhere, or develop stubborn behaviours (such as hitting a sibling or adamantly refusing to tidy up after themselves) and maintain them irrespective of the consequences and the pleas of adults. When such events occur, parents are invariably left wondering, “Why? Why is my child ...
Pause… Breathe… Smile… those are the 3 magic words I constantly try to hone in with my 5-year-old. Do they work? With reminders and on a good day, yes. Otherwise… not so much. Surprisingly, while trying to teach these to my son, I ended up using these words as my own personal motto to help stay calm and in control. As ...
If your child is struggling behaviourally or academically, his school may recommend that he take what is known as a psycho-educational (“psy-ed”) assessment - or you may wish to seek such an assessment independently. This comprehensive evaluation is designed to measure a child’s cognitive processing abilities (including logical reasoning, memory, attention, and executive functioning), his current level of academic ...
With climate change becoming an increasingly common theme in politics, news, and even entertainment, it’s no wonder more young ...
Too often, the emotional side of giftedness is overlooked; for all that we laud the intellectual complexity of giftedness, seldom ...
So here you are. Your child has done something wrong or hasn’t done something they should have done. In ...
While there is no way to make divorce “easy” on a child, there are ways to keep a divorce from damaging a child in a severe, lasting way. To the eyes of a vulnerable child, there is a world of difference between two parents separating amicably — while reassuring the child that he or she will remain important to both of ...
While many children may appear to bounce back quickly on the surface, the trials and tribulations faced by school-aged children can leave deep scars if not managed correctly. The challenges, setbacks, failures, and social pressures most children experience at school can gradually undermine their confidence and sense of self-worth unless their parents work with them to develop their resilience. For ...
Narcissism screams from the headlines nowadays. Google searches for “narcissism” have doubled since 2013. Writers hotly debate on the narcissism of each USA presidential candidate. Closer to home, doting parents worry they may unwittingly be raising a narcissist. As a former teenage narcissist and member of a multi-generational narcissistic family, here's a few pointers for how not to raise a narcissist ...
Anger is a notoriously infectious emotion, easily setting off the desire to react in like kind. Many of us were not taught how to effectively deal with anger during our own childhoods, so when we experience anger in a child, we struggle to react in the way we feel we ought to. Keeping ourselves calm and judicious may prove possible, ...
