Children & Adolescents

What is Bullying?

According to the Victorian Education Department bullying is defined as: ‘when someone, or a group of people, who have more power at the time, deliberately upset or hurt another person, their property, reputation or social acceptance on more than one occasion.’ »

Child Bullying: Signs

In most cases a child will not tell an adult that they are being bullied and the school may not be aware of any subtle changes in a child’s behaviour. Therefore it is crucial for parents to identify when their child is experiencing a problem. If you have noticed that your child’s attitude, behaviour or emotional responses have changed recently, the issue of bullying should be considere... »

Series: Coping with Your Child Being Bullied

Long gone are the days when the phrase ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me’ was used to toughen the kids in the school playground. Bullying is now an issue that is taken very seriously by parents and schools. »

Fostering the Development of Children’s Self-Esteem

Self esteem is… a person’s overall assessment of her or his personal adequacy or worth. (Weiten, 1998) feelings of self-worth stemming from the individual’s positive or negative beliefs about being valuable and capable. www.dphilpotlaw.com/html/glossary.html feeling good about yourself. It means liking yourself and being content with, and even proud of, who you are.(Hartley-Brewe... »

Communication and Childhood Anxiety

Childhood worries and anxiety are a common challenge for many parents. In this post, we will be considering a cognitive-behavioural approach to working with children and their worries. A cognitive-behavioural approach works most effectively with children who are able to think in a structured sequence and understand cause and effect. This makes it more appropriate for children in older age brackets... »

Common Communication Challenges for Parents

This post provides an overview of working with parents on common challenges of parenting. In particular, this chapter considers how to work with parents whose children are displaying aggressive behaviour or suffering from anxiety. »

Communicating with Children and Discipline

Disciplining children effectively, not only requires a great deal of persistence but also the ability to communicate clearly and succinctly with children. When working with parents on the issue of disciplining their children, it is important to ensure that all disciplinary strategies are age-appropriate. »

Communicating Effectively with Children

Developing, fostering and maintaining an open, trusting and committed child-parent relationship is the foundation of effective parenting. This kind of relationship is established through regular honest and respectful communication. »

Series: Communicating with Children

“The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing the... »

Losing a Loved One: Helping Children Grieve

You may not be grieving for your loved one alone. You may have a small child or children who are grieving, and along with your own grief, you need to be supportive and understanding of their reactions to the death of their special someone. This post is for parents of children who are grieving. »

Coping Effectively with Change: Leisha’s Case Study

Leisha is a 17 year old girl who has a young infant daughter Tippa aged 15 months. Her partner left the relationship before Leisha had the baby and hasn’t been seen or heard of since. Leisha lives at home with her parents. Initially Leisha was very scared about having a baby, and although she went to all the prenatal classes, she wondered what was going to happen with her life. »

Parenting a Problem Adolescent: Effective Options

In the previous hypothetical case examples (Aaron & Marnie) some recommendations were made, that are based on both practitioner judgement of situations and evidence via the literature and research. Let’s now look at some approaches that identify effective parenting outcomes. Much will depend upon the specific age of the teenager, as to what emotional input may be needed from their parent... »

Parenting a Problem Adolescent: Marnie’s Case Study

Marnie is a 16 year old girl (an only child) who attends a local private girls school in the city. Marnie is always at the top of her class and her report cards are exemplary. Marnie is actively involved with music, drama and dancing in and out of school all of which she excels at. Over the past couple of years Marnie has taken a much greater interest in her looks and how she dresses. She has star... »

Parenting a Problem Adolescent: Aaron’s Case Study

Aaron is a 15 year old boy who attends a local public high school in an industrialised area of the city. He lives with his mum, dad and two brothers, Will aged 9 and Brad aged 11 years. Aaron has recently been in trouble with the law (a year ago), having stolen some goods from the local bike shop but was let off as this was his first offence and he had previously been of good behaviour. Aaron has ... »

Page 5 of 8«34567»