In the realm of psychology, we encounter a diverse range of personalities. From the laid-back free spirits to the ones who seem to have swallowed an entire do-it-yourself instruction manual, we all know someone who is, well, a tad uptight. But let us not be too quick to judge! As clinical child psychologists, we are fascinated by the intricate workings of the human mind, and even uptightness has its place in the grand tapestry of personalities. Join us on this whimsical exploration as we unravel the causes of uptightness, appreciate its quirks, and reveal how it can actually bring positive changes to a person's life.
Read moreHow to Help Your Children Set Healthy Goals for the New Year
The new year can feel like a wonderful new start. It’s a chance to reevaluate our goals and lifestyles. We can consider changes that we want to make to better ourselves and make a plan to bring those changes to fruition.
Many people set New Year’s resolutions, adults and children alike. Maybe you’ve decided that you want to set new goals this year with your kids but you aren’t quite sure how to do that well. This article will outline some strategies to set your family up for success and include ideas on what resolutions may be good for your kids.
7 Good Principles to Follow
Along with the tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions comes the common problem of those goals falling by the wayside after a couple of months (or even just a few weeks). So how can you avoid the pitfalls of goal setting and not give up too early? Here are 7 tips.
Stress and Anxiety Around the Holidays: How to Help Your Child Enjoy the Season
Children can feel stress around the holidays for a variety of reasons. The number of people at the gatherings may make them uncomfortable. Or the change in routine may give them anxiety. They feel unsure of what to expect and that in turn makes them feel stressed.
You may not even know exactly what about the holidays seems to trigger your child. You just know that this time of year is difficult for them, and you want to help in any way you can.
Here are some tips to help make this holiday as smooth and enjoyable as possible.
First, Make Sure That You Are Taking Care of Yourself
Calm, like stress, is contagious. Whatever you are feeling, your children are going to be feeling too. So be sure to preemptively take some time to yourself this holiday season.(1) Spend a few minutes a few days doing something relaxing that you enjoy like reading a book or going for a walk.
Read moreSensory Overload at Holiday Gatherings: 8 Tips to Prevent a Meltdown
The holidays can be a great time to reconnect with family and take part in our favorite traditions.
However, it can also be a time filled with loud conversations and crowded living rooms. Which some of us really enjoy, but others of us don’t quite feel the same.
If your child has a sensory processing disorder or just feels easily overwhelmed in loud spaces, the holidays may pose some challenges. Even as adults, sometimes holiday celebrations can get overwhelming.
Don’t worry. If you dread the holidays each year because of how stimulating they are for your child, there are some steps that you can take to help them. This article is split into what you should do before an event, at the event, and after sensory overload sets in.
Armed with the right knowledge, this holiday season could be the best one yet. Let’s get started!
Read moreIs My Child Learning in Preschool? Yes, Your Child is Learning When They Play
Children learn many valuable skills during the preschool years. They’re learning how to communicate with and listen to others and how to follow directions. They’re developing fine and gross motor skills, and engaging with other children in cooperative play.
The point of preschool is to teach children important skills that will lay the groundwork for their future success. Skills like reading, writing, school readiness, and social skills like how to cooperate with others are all explored in preschool.(1)
Read moreWorld Kindness Day: 11 Activities You Can Do with Your Child to Cultivate Kindness
Kindness is a skill that we have to teach our children. Just like we teach them how to ride a bike or how to do addition, they also need direction on how to be thoughtful to others.
While most children have a strong sense of empathy and compassion, kindness is the process of putting those feelings into action. It’s taking our feelings a step further and doing something nice that will make someone else happy.
The best way that children learn this is through practice. We need to work alongside them to help them think of ways to be kind and then follow through with that plan. If you’re needing some more ideas on how to practice kindness with your child, you’re in the right place!
Read moreWhat is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? With 3 Paths to Recovery
If you’re noticing signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in your child or if they’ve recently been diagnosed with OCD, it can be difficult to know what to do.
This mental illness is often misunderstood because of its representation in the media. It’s often described as simply liking a clean room or keeping things a certain way. Clinical OCD is much more intense than this. It often needs professional intervention for the person to be able to live a normal life.
So, what are the signs and symptoms of OCD in children? How can you help after a diagnosis of childhood OCD? It’s all outlined here.
Celebrating World Mental Health Day: Plus 10 Mental Health Tips
October is here and with its arrival comes World Mental Health Day on October 10th.
Have you been curious about where to get resources for World Mental Health Day for your home or classroom? Or are you just looking for tips on how to support your child’s mental well-being?
You’re in the right place! I’ve outlined great answers to both questions below.
Navigating Social Anxiety with Selective Mutism: Using a CBT Approach
A diagnosis of social anxiety with selective mutism (SM) can be hard to navigate.
Especially if you’re an extrovert or you just enjoy social interactions, it can be hard to put yourself in the shoes of a child that feels intense anxiety in those same circumstances. Or your child may not be able to articulate their feelings and tell you exactly what’s wrong when you go out in public.
This article will not only give you a better idea of how to spot this disorder but also the best methods for treating it.
Let’s dive into it.
Read more“Creating Hope Through Action”: Understanding and Preventing Suicide in Children
Suicidal thoughts and ideation are always serious problems. If you or your child are struggling with suicide, reach out for help right away by calling a suicide hotline or reaching out to a mental health provider.
Suicide is a tough topic. It’s even tougher when we’re talking about suicide in childhood.
However, it’s an important one to understand because prevention means that precious, young lives are saved.
So, what are the signs of suicidal thoughts or behaviors in children? How can you help a child who is thinking about suicide? Let’s dig into it.
5 Tricky Toddler Behaviors for Parents and Caregivers to Understand
If you’re the parent of a toddler, chances are you’ve seen your fair share of temper tantrums, dealt with hitting or biting, or gotten into power struggles with your child.
While the toddler years are a wonderful time of exploration and development, they also can be trying on parents or caregivers.
One minute your child is being oh-so-sweet and angelic and the next they’re throwing a fit in the middle of the frozen food aisle.
Let’s tackle 5 tricky (but common) toddler behaviors and gain insight into why they occur.
Read moreWhy the Toddler Years Matter So Much for Brain Development
If you have a toddler, you’ve witnessed firsthand how incredibly active they are and how fast they learn! So many amazing milestones are reached during the toddler years — from walking to talking to using their fingers to eat.
Toddlers can be larger than life. With their big feelings, bigger tantrums, and daily skill acquisition — you may be marveling at all the new things they’re learning and doing.
Every day is different with a toddler. And it’s in part because their brains are so incredibly malleable and developing at a wildly rapid pace.
So what’s going on inside that genius little mind of theirs?
Read more4 Reasons Why You Should Maintain Bedtime Throughout Summer Break
Days full of adventures may be the best part of summer. Whether you’re basking in the sun or hiding from the weather indoors, there is so much fun to be had. Some of us get to spend extra time with our children, maybe even take them on outings to the zoo or park.
In all the hustle and bustle, it’s easy to push bedtime back by just one hour today and maybe 45 minutes tomorrow.
While all the time spent exploring, learning, and enjoying each other’s’ company is a wonderful part of summer, sticking to a sleep schedule is also important. Our children’s bodies and brains thrive on adequate sleep. High-quality sleep habits are as essential a need as food or water.
Let’s dive into the benefits of children getting consistent, quality sleep.
Read morePTSD Awareness: How to Help a Child Through Trauma
We often think of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a mental illness that only soldiers suffer from. In fact, it has been referred to in the past as Shell Shock or Combat Fatigue.(1)
While PTSD is common in those individuals who have seen and experienced war, unfortunately, any person who has experienced trauma can develop PTSD.
This even includes children.
So what should you be looking for if you suspect that your child or another child in your life has PTSD? And how can you help them? Let’s talk about it.
Read moreMore Than Childhood Fear: How to Identify and Address a Specific Phobia
Many children hang on their mother’s leg with apprehension on the first day of kindergarten. Other children struggle to sleep some nights because of the monsters they think are under the bed. Or maybe the trip to the dentist each year is a source of anxiety for your child.
These are all normal childhood fears. They are specific to one experience, and they can be worked through, and the child quickly moves on from them.
When a child’s fears become disproportionate to the actual situation and are long-standing, bleeding into many areas of the child’s life, there may be more going on, such as a Specific Phobia.
A Specific Phobia centers on one particular activity, object, animal, or situation. The fear that the child feels drives them to avoid that trigger at all costs. An inability to avoid the trigger causes intense distress.
Read moreWhy Is My Child Acting Out? Oppositional Defiant Disorder Explained
Some kids are just “bad kids.” You know the ones. They run down the aisle screaming at church. They have meltdowns in the supermarket. They don’t listen, they talk back, and they laugh in the face of authority. They can’t be controlled by their parents or teachers.
In short, they’re a menace with a capital M.
Except… there’s no such thing as a “bad kid,” is there? There are good kids who need help… Kids who start to believe the worst about themselves because they’ve come to expect negative reinforcement from their parents, other adults, or their peers…
Believe it or not, that kid yelling obscenities at his mother in the school parking lot probably doesn’t want to be doing that. But children with oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD for short, have difficulty controlling their impulses and making healthy, developmentally appropriate choices.
Read moreTwo Mental Health Events With a Common Thread: Friendship and Connection
Our children’s mental health and our own mental health can feel like topics difficult to tackle. Being equipped with the right knowledge, however, can make all the difference.
Mental health events can do exactly this. They often have speakers, online forums, and other resources to help make difficult topics easier to understand and talk about. A theme often ties the event together to focus on one area of mental health.
Both events that are happening in May very fittingly chose to focus on connection and friendship.
Read moreAutism Spectrum Disorder: What Parents Need to Know
Did you know that 1 in 44 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder?(1)
If you have a child who is currently or has recently been diagnosed with autism, you may be feeling overwhelmed and confused.
You may be wondering what this diagnosis means for your child's future.
What treatment options are available? What can you do to help your child?
Here's what parents need to know about autism spectrum disorder in children.
Read moreUnderstanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Help Your Child
“What if everyone stands up and leaves when it’s my turn to sing on stage?”
“What if I trip on the playground and no one ever wants to be my friend again?”
“What if all the walls of my bedroom fall in on me?”
These may sound like normal childhood fears; every child experiences fears at some point. However, it is important to be able to spot when normal childhood fear has become overwhelming anxiety.
Generalized anxiety disorder sounds like a scary term, but breaking it down and understanding it will give you insight into how to cope with your child’s fears. So what is generalized anxiety disorder, what triggers it, and how is it treated? Let’s dive in.
Read moreHow Do I know if It’s ADHD or Developmentally Appropriate Behavior?
Children can be tiresome—no matter their age. But oh, they are charming! The wit, the spontaneity, the unadulterated joy—it’s enough to make you crack up, but also drive you mad, isn’t it? Especially when you can’t get them to sit still, follow directions, wait their turn, or listen carefully! And for a child with ADHD, these types of requests or expectations are even harder to meet.
All children will be inattentive, impulsive, or hyperactive sometimes. That’s just part of being a kid. Preschoolers in particular struggle to stay focused on one activity for a sustained amount of time. It’s not unusual for preschoolers to have short attention spans. Plus, isn’t it cute when they get sidetracked by a bug or a pile of rocks with no particularly interesting quality except that they exist?
In school-aged children and teens, it’s not uncommon for their attention spans to depend on their interest in what’s at hand.(1) Pursuing their passion for basketball, reading, or collecting sneakers trumps doing boring stuff like homework any day.
Read more