Occasionally testing limits and boundaries through acts of defiance is a normal part of child development. Most kids break the rules to define their social role and express their desire for autonomy, which is why rebellious behaviour occurs most frequently from ages 2-3 and during early adolescence. For kids with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), however, being hostile and uncooperative isn't ...
Knowing when and how to discipline a child is never easy, but gifted kids present unique challenges that require patience and careful consideration. With their combination of emotional intensity, keen language skills, and need for fairness, gifted children can seem rebellious and argumentative – but their behaviour is often driven by good intentions. By knowing what to expect when parenting a ...
Kids misbehave for a wide variety of different reasons, and some children are inherently easier to parent than others. Finding the right methods of guidance can therefore feel confusing and overwhelming, especially if techniques that worked with one of your children don’t work with his or her siblings. However, while it’s true that parenting is an adaptive and ...
We all want our children to treat others with kindness, empathy, and compassion. Many of the rules and boundaries we set are designed to teach our kids what is (and isn’t) socially appropriate, and we constantly strive to inform our children about the ways their actions can affect others. However, the manner in which we discipline our children has ...
As a psychologist living and working in Toronto, where 51% of residents were born outside Canada, I deal with immigration related ...
So here you are. Your child has done something wrong or hasn’t done something they should have done. In ...
Not every relationship works out. This is true whether the relationship in question is a friendship, romantic relationship, or the ...
Modern parenting methods typically revolve around a rigid system of enforcing accountability: If a child behaves well, he (or she) is rewarded. If a child behaves badly, he is punished. In theory, this approach is logical enough; we expect our children to learn that their actions have consequences. Furthermore, we expect this knowledge to help them form a natural aversion ...
At some point, every parent has to deal with disrespectful behaviour from his or her child. Whether it’s something as minor as ignoring your requests or as upsetting as a string of curses and insults, your child will sometimes express himself in unproductive ways. When this happens, first and foremost you must understand that you’re not alone and ...
As parents, we’ve all experienced our children using less-than-constructive methods of persuasion. Whether it’s picking fights to cause a distraction or faking sick to avoid schoolwork or chores, children are endlessly inventive when it comes to getting their own way. Unfortunately, this tenacity can lead to parents feeling frustrated, exhausted, and helpless. As a result, many start giving ...
Parenting would almost certainly be a simpler job if it came with a standardized book of child-appropriate rules and boundaries. If this were the case, parents would no longer have to hear the familiar outcry of “It's not fair! Everyone else is allowed to...” whenever they tried to establish a curfew, set limits for acceptable media, etc. After all, though ...
