Social skills for teens
We all know that young children need to be taught social skills and usually feel like we’ve succeeded once we get them to say “please” and”thank you” and to remember their table manners. But the lessons don’t stop there – here are social skills for teens to master: * Making eye contact. Yup, I know […]
Teaching kids to say sorry and mean it
Teaching kids to say sorry is a relatively easy feat, but most young children will simply shout a casual “sorry!” over their shoulder and then carry on to repeat the exact same behaviour they had apologised for moments before. You might have seen the broken plate scenario featured on posters and posts on popular media […]
Birth and adoption stories
It is so important for children to know the stories of their birth and how they became part of their families. Children will often ask to hear these stories over and over and telling this story is in fact one of the techniques used in filial therapy to promote bonding between a parent and child. […]
Addressing obesity in children
Our previous article about the psychological effects of obesity in children highlighted the devastating effect these children’s weight can have on their social and emotional development. In this article we are going to look at some of the ways in which parents can help undo some of the damage caused by obesity. 1. Help your […]
A note on teaching kids to respect nature
I stood on Noordhoek Beach today where 19 whales had stranded themselves in the early hours of the morning. As with most strandings (I suppose), the scene was fairly chaotic. Officials doing all they could to keep the animals alive and comfortable and well-intentioned volunteers trying to help where ever they could. From the corner […]
Boosting your child’s self-esteem
When we came into this world as babies, it was with a clean slate. We knew absolutely nothing about ourselves and we automatically had high self esteem. Quickly our minds began to soak up information about ourselves from our parents and our environment. We soon began forming the self-image that would follow us into our […]
What exactly is self-esteem?
Brian Mesinger, PhD, a psychologist at the Fort Collins Youth Clinic in Colorado, defines the term in the following way; “Self-esteem is the collection of beliefs or feelings that we have about ourselves. How we define ourselves hugely influences our motivations, attitudes and behaviours”. Put simply, self-esteem is the value we place upon ourselves. It […]
Should you be getting rid of the TV for the kids’ sake?
I grew up in a house where we spent about 90% of our free time watching Television. We watched the 7 am cartoon while we were having breakfast and tuned in to K-TV when we got back from school in the afternoons. My mother had the good sense to deny us access to the TV […]
Sex education for young children
Many people feel that pre-school children are way too young to be given sex education but teaching children about sex from a young age is very, very important. Not only does it give them vital information to try and help protect themselves from sexual abuse, but sex is a human need and to assume that […]
Teaching children anger management skills
Young children are often caught unaware by their own feelings of anger and frustration. They don’t fully understand what came over them in their fit of rage and may feel agitated and confused (and sometimes a little guilty) by their own behaviour. Here are some tips on helping your little one deal with his anger […]
