A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
My 13-year-old daughter literally cringes when I touch her. Any attempt at showing affection to my once cuddly and affectionate daughter is now met with resistance. You know, the I’m-a-teen-and-I’m-way-too-old-for-this attitude that consumes our children sometime between the ages of 11 and 16. When I fall victim to this melancholy temperament, I’m quickly driven into [...]
Most parents and caregivers know they shouldn’t hit kids. They’re also aware that emotional punishments—shaming, yelling, ridiculing—have unhappy unintended consequences. But the same adults often believe it’s okay to isolate kids when the adult doesn’t like the way the child is behaving. Adults Need Timeouts (for Themselves) We all get overwhelmed sometimes. That’s when we’re [...]
A new study has found that people who spend the most time browsing social media, especially Facebook, showed some traits similar to those of the autism spectrum disorder, including an inability to read facial emotions. The study, by the University of the Sunshine Coast, compared 200 people who grew up without Facebook to those who [...]
My 9-year-old son Ibrahim loves being home from school for the summer. For about five minutes. After that, the complaints and requests start. I know he’s not purposely trying to be a pest. He’s just giving me a kid-signal: spend time with me! “Can you make me a snack? What’s for lunch? Why can’t my [...]
Although it's great to have a range of personality types and temperaments in a classroom, teachers and parents naturally worry if a child is always quiet. Here are some ways to help a shy child shine in the classroom. And many of these tips will work in other situations, as well. 1. Figure out what your shy students are interested in. You [...]
Psychologists call the act of defining ourselves by one choice, one situation, or one result catastrophizing. We might decide that we’re a terrible salesperson after just one month of declining numbers, or a horrible friend because we get in a fight with a friend, or that we’ll surely die alone after one painful breakup. I probably don’t have to [...]
We could all use a little bit of help around the house, right? It seems that children these days are too busy with homework, after school activities, and electronics to do any chores. In fact, unlike prior generations, most American parents today do not believe that their children should have to be responsible for household chores. [...]
Divorce was never supposed to happen to us or to our kids. It takes us off the path we envisioned for our families. Once we get through the initial shock and awe that follows the divorce, divorcees struggle to define the new family relationships, including the ones with our ex-spouses. We are also left to [...]
When it comes to raising our kids, less may be more. Way more. In fact, learning to selectively ignore our kids not only relieves parents from the joyless cycle of nagging, but helps our kids to learn. That’s the premise behind a new book:Ignore It! How Selectively Looking the Other Way Can Decrease Behavioral Problems and [...]
While many individuals intuitively understand the link between how we fuel and move our bodies and how we feel, the medical community is in the midst of a paradigm shift. "This mind/body dichotomy that has informed psychiatry for at least the last 50 years or so, we know that is erroneous and is not based on [...]
