Have you ever wrestled with a problem, walked away from it for a period, and then ended up having an epiphany while you were officially “off duty” from the problem? Laurence Steinberg, an internationally renowned expert on psychological development during adolescence, talks about having such an experience leading to the development of his book on parenting. He says that he was reading ... »
Right from an early age, we get a clear message from the world around us that being old isn’t so great, at least in Western society. Our mothers worry about getting wrinkles and use day creams, night creams, vitamin creams and highly scientific, or perhaps natural and organic, concoctions to cover up the visible signs of ageing. Our fathers often resist retirement. I remember my Nana once sa... »
A child’s earliest experiences with emotion most often occurs in the family setting. Consequently, the family plays an important role in the development of emotional understanding, particularly interactions between parents and children. For example, children who possess secure attachments with their parents show greater emotional understanding than those children who do not possess secure at... »
Everyone has personality traits that characterise them as unique individuals. Such traits refer to the usual way in which a person thinks, feels and behaves. Specifically, personality refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviours, consistently exhibited by an individual over a long period of time. Personality is a complex combination of traits and characteristics that determines our e... »
While the definition of adolescent can differ from culture to culture, it is generally accepted that the time referred to as adolescence is the period between childhood and adulthood, a sort of “no man’s land.” »
As children travel through the journey of life they are faced with many different developmental challenges. Early in life, babies learn to pay attention and be part of a relationship. As they grow they learn to use their imagination and think logically. »
Personality development has always been a hot topic in realm of mental health disciplines. From Freud to Piaget, many theories of personality balance the input of natural, genetic, and environmental factors to try to explain the foundation of human behaviour. »
There are several therapeutic approaches which are useful to improve clients’ readiness to change. It is important, however, to realise that all these strategies are based on the same suggestion: motivation to change is elicited from the client and not imposed from without. Using coercion, persuasion or constructive confrontation will achieve little if the client is simply “unready&rdq... »
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... »
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... »
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. »
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. »
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. »
“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... »
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