Empathizing with your child when his behaviour is frustrating can be challenging, but it’s an essential part of being a supportive, trustworthy parent. When you empathize with your child, you let him know that you respect and value his feelings, even if you don’t always agree with how he handles them. You show him that you care about ...
Watching a child grieve is one of the most painful experiences in any parent’s life. If your child has gone through a difficult loss, you may be concerned that he’ll never return to his normal self. Many parents worry that their child’s grief-related nightmares, social withdrawal, apathy, and emotional issues won’t completely subside with time, but ...
The way children react to stimuli is determined by both their genetics and their environment. Research conducted on identical twins has shown that about half of our traits are inherited, giving us our own intrinsic way of looking at the world. Neurodevelopmental disorders, like Autism and ADHD, can also contribute to the formation of prominent innate behaviours. If your child ...
Though positive feelings play a big role in how we learn—providing a sense of reward and satisfaction—the importance of negative emotions shouldn’t be overlooked. Uncomfortable feelings often teach children essential lessons, and learning to manage these emotions early on can create the foundation for lifelong stability and success. Processing and contextualizing negative emotions helps kids become more ...
As children grow older, their behaviours change dramatically. While a hysterical tantrum over something minor is completely normal at two ...
With climate change becoming an increasingly common theme in politics, news, and even entertainment, it’s no wonder more young ...
The human brain processes all sensory information whether or not you are fully aware of it. Most children are able ...
Every parent shares the same priority: They just want their child to be happy. They know, of course, that no one can realistically remain happy all of the time, but this doesn’t make them any less protective of their child’s well-being. Naturally, then, few things are as distressing as realizing one’s child is persistently sad. Though worry ...
For centuries, parents were taught that effective child-rearing consists of rewarding good behaviour while punishing bad behaviour. Parents assumed that this would teach their children self-control, and having excellent self-control would allow them to resist temptation and act appropriately. Today, we know human behaviour isn’t that black and white. Kids usually act out not because they want to misbehave ...
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 ...
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 ...
