Love Our Children USA recently announced that bullying and teasing is at the top of kids’ issues at schools, and with school now open, parents, teachers and school administrators must take caution and sensitivity in handling these issues. Childhood should be a time filled with wonder and joy, but the reality for many kids and teens is often much different.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a person’s ability to identify, organize and act on their feelings and the feelings of others in a healthy and productive way. Does increasing an individual’s emotional intelligence correlate to a higher probability of long-term personal success and happiness?

Although concepts of emotional intelligence are evident in literature as far back as the early 1900’s, Daniel Goleman was the first to popularize this idea in 1995 with his book “Emotional Intelligence”. The belief that improving emotional intelligence can improve overall success in life grabbed the attention of the western world.

We usually think of bullying as physical aggression such as punching, hitting, shoving, but it’s way beyond that. If your kid is being bullied or harassed that means his friend or peers are hurting him intentionally. As a result, your son or daughter feels powerless, helpless, humiliated, shamed, and hopeless about the whole situation.

Parents will spend hours, days, and often months thinking of a name for their unborn child. It can be an agonizing and often unpleasant experience for many. The permanence of the decision feels overwhelming and we feel a weight of responsibility as we ponder the issues of name suitability. We often want uniqueness and conformity [...]

Several years ago, I got into a car accident and totalled my car (ok, my mother’s car).  Thankfully, no one was hurt and the only injury I sustained was to my bank account, which was hit with a hefty fine for “following too close”.  The other driver was forgiving, my parents showed concern only for [...]

If it was possible to pass on just one piece of advice from the wisdom I have gained from parenting, it would be this: Embrace your child’s anxiety.

Many parents don’t do this because they hold two mistaken beliefs. First, they believe that it is their responsibility to make their child happy; and second, they believe that feelings of anxiety in their child means that they have failed somehow.

Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, refers to our ability to understand our own emotions and the emotions of others. One can then act on that understanding to shape a positive outcome. This intelligence relating to our emotions produces many characteristics. Empathy, kindness, self-confidence, good listening skills, humour and acceptance of self and others are [...]

The experience of ourselves, others and the world is not bestowed upon us, but created by us. The objectivity of events is an illusion, an organizing force born out of our creative minds but attributed to our rational brains. We know what we think and therefore think that we know. Personal perception, however, is anything [...]

As the summer draws to a close, school feels like a distant memory to many children. Many focus on the unknown like their teachers, new children and curriculum. This can result in feelings of panic, anxiety and overwhelm. True, there are many new things that they must face but for most there is also much [...]