With summer just ahead, it looms for some little ones. Summer camp can be a frightening new experience for young children and brings on separation anxiety not unlike first day at school jitters.
All of us have anxiety – it is an important emotion.
We need it to survive, stay safe and make good choices. Some of us are hardwired to be more anxious than others. As a therapist, I feel that more and more children are struggling with anxiety for many reasons and many parents struggle with how to help their kids cope.
I know some parents who intimidated me as a young mother. They seemed to get everything just right. Their children were always immaculate, clean and well-behaved. They slept when they were supposed to and ate what was good for them. These same parents found the time to teach their barely toddlers to recognize their abc’s and still find space in a day to work out!
One morning, I was sitting enjoying my cup of coffee when the phone rang.
“Hi Rickie, it’s Marsha Jacobson. I was wondering if you would join mychildfeels.com as a contributor. We are looking for a perspective from a grandparent and I know you would be great. I still remember advice you gave me years ago.”
There are so many wonderful things about Jennifer Kolari’s book “Connected Parenting” that I hardly know where to begin.
Kolari understands that even when parents feel despair, overwhelmed, angry or feel guilty because they no longer like their child, that these feelings are just a mask for fear and confusion. Kolari never blames parents who have lost their way and find themselves in a vortex of negativity.
Check out a lovely article in the NCAdvertiser.com written by Julie Butler Evans entitled “Parenting from the trenches – Learning the life lesson of letting go.” Julie beautifully describes the dilemma that many parents face. She says that knowing when and how to draw the line between holding on to our kids and letting go [...]
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.
Check out this article on examiner.com called “Parenting and Education 101: How do you prepare for the first day of kindergarten?” Maya Creedman gives some suggestions to parents for dealing with their child’s first day at kindergarten. This is a succinct and helpful article. There is one sentence in particular that I liked, “If your [...]
