Expresso video 1: What is bullying?
Last week I chatted to Expresso’s Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp about bullying. In the first segment we looked at what bullying is, what the psychological effects are and what signs to look out for. Bullying can be described as aggressive behaviour by one party (individual or group) against another in which there is a real […]
Expresso video 2: How to address bullying
In this video I chat to Expresso’s Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp on how parents should address bullying. It is absolutely vital that parents get involved if they know or suspect that their child is being bullied, but how they go about doing so is important: keep in mind that your child is most likely already feeling embarrassed […]
Expresso video 3: Why do children become bullies?
Bullying is a serious problem and as a society we often react with great empathy to the child who is being bullied. But what if your child is the bully? Children bully others for a variety of reasons. Surprisingly when we talk to bullies we often find that they themselves suffer from a low self-esteem […]
Imaginary Friends
Get a little creeped out when you hear your child having a conversation with thin air? Experts once believed that having an imaginary friend was a sign that something was wrong in a child’s life. They hypothesized that children who dreamed up imaginary friends were isolated, socially incompetent or lonely. Yet, it seems that the […]
Helping children learn from their mistakes
As the year draws to a close it is important to help our children reflect not only on all they have accomplished and achieved, but also on the mistakes they have made this year and to help them learn from these. Too often society pressures us (and our kids) into believing that we have to […]
What is selective mutism?
Children who suffer from selective mutism are able to speak and have a good understanding of language, but do not speak in specific situations or to specific people. Experts have found that children with selective mutism suffer from severe anxiety and it is this anxiety that prevents them from speaking – in essence the mutism […]
Delayed gratification
In this post I want to focus on delayed gratification and how it may benefit children. Basically, delaying gratification means resisting the temptation to get an immediate reward in order to receive a larger or more enduring reward later. In the now famous Stanford Marshmallow Experiment a researcher would place a marshmallow on a plate […]
Thoughts on praising a child
Praise has gotten a lot of media attention lately and many parenting magazines and blogs now seem to offer conflicting advice about whether or not to praise your children. Personally, I think we’re simply over-thinking the issue. To me, praise is a natural reaction – when you’re impressed by something someone has done, you praise […]
Kids and cell phones
Cell phones have completely revolutionised the way we interact with our world. These little devices form such a big part of our daily lives that it is inevitable that every child, at some stage in his or her life will start begging to own one too. Giving your child a cell phone holds many […]
Teenagers and dating – Advice for parents
Does hearing the words teenagers and dating in the same sentence send shivers up your spine? This can be an anxious time for parents. We’ve all been there – most of us can still recall the high’s of being madly in love and the lows of being utterly heartbroken. We know what a mine field […]
