The ability to communicate well and learn verbally is strongly emphasized both at home and at school. However, useful though verbal skills are, there’s another extremely important area of learning that many experts feel we’re neglecting: Spatial skills. The term “spatial skills” is used to describe the ability to accurately interpret and remember the spatial relations between objects. ...
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 ...
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 ...
Anxiety disorders are found in children much more often than many people realize; ten to twenty percent of all children ...
Autism has been in the spotlight for many years. In movies, television, and novels, autistic characters are portrayed to have ...
As a psychologist living and working in Toronto, where 51% of residents were born outside Canada, I deal with immigration related ...
As numerous schoolyard rhymes tell us, tattling is an incredibly unpopular phenomenon among children. It’s not exactly a favourite behaviour at home, either: Most parents know all too well the frustration of having a child frequently seek their intervention because a sibling has taken his toy or violated another minor rule. These parents know that their child could probably ...
One of the best parts of being a parent is getting to witness how your child changes and develops. Watching your child take her first steps, say her first words, and get dressed by herself for the first time invariably evokes feelings of pride and joy. Most parents enthusiastically do their best to facilitate these changes: They hold their child’...
Social distancing has increased parenting responsibilities and limited parents’ self-care resources, creating more stress and anxiety in many households. To cope with the sudden changes in routine brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, parents must adopt new parenting strategies designed to balance their needs with the needs of their children. Parents must also learn how to step into new roles, ...
In recent years, the rise of cyber bullying has drawn attention to the many diverse forms bullying can take. At the same time, however, parents and teachers remain under-informed about many aspects of this harmful behaviour pattern. Not only does this make it more difficult to understand the trauma many children and teens endure, it limits our ability to give ...
