Building Better Boundaries
By David Sternberg, LICSW
Recently, several women in their 20s have come to see me because of their troubling relationships with their mothers. These young women are smart, ambitious, and otherwise successful in their careers and intimate relationships. But when it comes to their mothers, they haven’t developed the skills necessary to maintain healthy boundaries and enter therapy depressed, anxious, or sometimes both.
When Kids Bully Other Kids At School
By Lisa Dunning, MFT
For many kids, school is a great place to learn, socialize and build self-esteem. But for a child who is the victim of a bully, school can be a place of terror. It's important for a parent to know the warning signs of bullying. If ignored, a child's school experience, self-esteem and even their life can be in jeopardy.
Treating “Peter Pan Syndrome” with Wilderness Therapy
By Meghan Vivo
The “Peter Pan Syndrome” is a common phenomenon witnessed by parents: young people in their late teens and twenties who look like adults on the outside, but are still teenagers on the inside. Often, these young adults get caught up with “partying” and staying out all hours of the night, resisting the responsibilities of adulthood and glorifying the “freedom” of adolescence.
Where Did I Come From? What do I say to my kids about donor-assisted reproduction?
By Sharon Schwartz, Ph.D.
The late 1970’s saw the birth of the first “test-tube” baby. That baby has since grown up and become a mother herself. Children do best when they know where they come from; that refers to both a genetic history as well as a relationship history. Feelings of betrayal are stimulated when secrets are kept and then inevitably found out. So the first step in considering what, how, when and even if to talk your children is to examine your own feelings.
Understanding the Need to Say "NO" to Your Children
By Jill MacDonald, MA, LPC
I don’t know anyone who would say they enjoy hearing the word “NO.” And children especially dislike it. However, as a therapist and parent I know that saying (and hearing) “no” is a vital and positive part of our lives.
Stop and Smell the Roses
By Jill MacDonald, MA, LPC
We have all heard this expression many times in our lives. As we grow older, we come to appreciate this more and more. We begin (hopefully) to see how precious our lives are and how brief. However, during the years of parenting our young children, we often forget to “stop and smell the roses.”
Promoting Children's Mental Health
We know that children need nutritious food, shelter, exercise, and immunizations - but the basics for good mental health aren’t always as clear. Children’s mental health is an important part of their overall health and well-being. It should be given thought and attention and, when needed, professional help.
Welcome To The World of Parenting!
By Lisa Dunning, MFT
Becoming a new parent can be stressful and exhausting but it will also be the most rewarding experience in your life. As a parent and a Parent/Child Relationship Specialist, I have discovered 5 effective techniques to become an effective, nurturing, loving and responsible parent of a newborn.
The Last Straw: How to Reach Your Teen When You Feel You've Tried Everything
By Darin Geiger, M.A.
The key to helping struggling teens is early intervention. Early intervention requires taking action and getting to the root of your teen's problem. If you feel like the situation is at an impasse, help from an outside source, such as a therapist, may be necessary.
"Coping Tips" For the First Weeks With Your New Baby
During the exciting, astonishingly round-the-clock-hectic days of parenting a newborn, it’s important to remember to take good care of yourself while also focusing on the many needs of your baby. The following "coping tips" can help.
Treating Siblings "The Same"
By Dr. William Ralph
Common sense and our own experiences during childhood oftentimes caution us to avoid favoring one child over another. However, some parents are so concerned about not showing any preference, they deny normal differences in their feelings towards each of their children.
Shyness: More than Just Feeling Afraid
A new imaging study suggests children with extremely shy temperament have heightened brain activity in response to any prominent event (whether the event is positive or negative) which can indicate a risk factor for the subsequent development of a mental disorder.
Talking About Adoption
By Maxine B. Rosenberg, LCSW
The goal in telling a child they're adopted is to create a safe, loving, comfortable environment for them so that at each age and stage they will feel free to ask their parents questions about how they came to their family. At the same time, parents will become better able to embellish it and answer more complex questions as their children get older.
Helping Your Kids Say "No" to Marijuana—Even If You Didn’t
If your child asks whether you ever used marijuana and your honest answer is "yes," you don’t have to provide a graphically detailed account. Instead, use your child’s curiosity about your personal history as an opportunity to talk about questions and concerns they may be having about marijuana, as well as the use and abuse of other drugs and substances.
How To Discuss War With Your Child…
Kids ask a lot of tough questions, but the range of questions they can have about war can be some of the hardest for parents to answer. We want to do whatever we can to reassure our kids and take care of their emotional health, especially when confronting such complex and distressing situations as war. So, when your child now turns to you for answers, just what should you tell them?--and how do you make sure that your efforts to comfort them don't end up making them even more afraid?
Child Abuse Can Cause Permanent Damage to the Brain, Body, and Emotional Well-Being
Many cases of child abuse aren’t intentional acts of violence committed by violent, uncaring parents--rather, child abuse often occurs in an instant of unthinking frustration and anger. An instant of uncontrolled anger is all it takes to shake a young child and inflict permanent brain damage, to yank a small arm out of its socket, or to inflict alarming and longlasting physical pain and emotional injury.
How Do Kids Learn?
While we hope for success in our kids’ academic pursuits, social situations, and emotional well-being, it really helps to first appreciate that there are several identifiable learning styles based on distinct ways that each of us gathers as well as processes new information.
Understanding and Dealing With Kids' Bullying Behavior
Although never desirable, it used to be that childhood bullying was considered an unfortunate stage of the growing-up process...a normal school-day nuisance. But not anymore. Too often now, the nightly news reminds us how dangerous and even fatal bullying behavior by both boys AND girls can be. Learn how to get help for your child if they're a bully or are being victimized by one.
Do Girls Benefit from Attending an All-Girls’ School?
By Mary Willis
This is a question that has been asked for many, many years. Comprehensive research conducted over the past two decades has provided us with an answer, at last. Yes, academic performance of girls (ages 12-20) ranks much higher for those attending an all-girls’ school versus those in a co-educational environment.
Getting Kids to Listen
by Dr. Marge Blaine
Problems with kids fall into a number of categories. These include difficulties with homework, siblings, and household chores. Homework often presents the greatest source of conflict, but is often easiest to solve.
When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us: Letting Go Of Their Problems, Loving Them Anyway, and Getting On With Our Lives
By Jane Adams, Ph.D. / Published by Free Press Inc.
The lives of grown children constitute an important lens through which we judge ourselves and our accomplishments; it is through reconsidering their adult successes and failures that we seek, retroactively, to validate the kinds of parents we were and the responsible caring we provided.
Divorce and a Child's Disruptive Behavior
Marital breakup is never easy on anyone. But when parting parents put their child in the middle, work against or undermine each other and compete with one another, they can expect their offspring to suffer emotionally and/or behaviorally. The best predictor of a positive outcome for a kid is when divorcing parents cooperate with each other--at least where their child is concerned.
The Kinds of Behavior That Are Considered Child Abuse
Parenting is one of the most rewarding AND one of the most difficult relationships any one of us engages in. The demands of raising a child can incite frustration and anger in even the most patient person. Parents need and deserve all the help they can get. Seeking the advice and support of a professional therapist can help with any feelings of guilt and upset you may be experiencing, as well as offer personally-tailored advice on how to respond constructively and lovingly to your child.
Negative Peer Pressure: How to Help Kids Say "No" and Still Keep Their Friends
By Sharon Scott, LPC, LMFT
When parents hear the words "peer pressure" their faces usually take on a worried, concerned expression. Many of us tend to have assumptions about the phrase that may or may not be accurate. Parents are encouraged to read this article and take the true-or-false "peer pressure quiz" to gain insight into their up-to-date awareness of this important subject.
When Mom Has a Temper Tantrum
By Melanie Howard
Yelling is usually a sign that a parent has no strategy. At a loss for what to do, moms may resort to yelling out of anger or frustration. But the end result is that parents feel guilty and children get the emotional message that they are bad. Read what two top parenting experts have to say about how parents can keep their temper in check.
Leaving Home
By Sally Frances, MA, LCSW
The developmental task of leaving home not only comes into play for adolescents who are contemplating their physical leave-taking in order to go to college or move into their own place after graduation, but also for older people who left home long ago and who now have families of their own. For these individuals, too, "leaving home" can become an important issue to work on in therapy.
How Children and Adolescents React to Trauma
Trauma includes emotional as well as physical experiences and injuries. Emotional injury is essentially a normal response to an extreme event and involves the creation of emotional memories, which arise through a long-lasting effect on structures deep within the brain. The more direct the exposure to the traumatic event, the higher the risk for emotional harm.
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