5 Questions to Ask a Child Psychologist
Your child has been struggling for weeks, months, maybe even years. Maybe it’s friendship issues. Maybe it’s school stress. Maybe your child seems anxious or irritable most of the time. Maybe you’re worried about your child’s temper. Maybe your family is going through a rough transition and it seems to be hitting your child hard. You’re wondering if your child needs to talk with a psychologist. For most parents, the idea of bringing their child to see a psychologist seems scary.
Parenting: Raise Independent Children
One of your most important goals as a parent is to raise children who become independent and self-reliant people. Certainly, in early development, your children count on you. As infants, they rely on you for nourishment, cleaning, and mobility. As you...
Want Your Kids to Start Listening to You? Stop Doing This!
In my family counseling practice I see a lot of children who don't listen well to their parents and are, at times, quite defiant. I provide children with a lot of behavioral and cognitive tools to ease conflicts. Bottom line: I help kids with what I c...
So how can a person cope after something awful has happened?
When a terrorist strikes, it seems like the entire world is upside down and confusing. Terrorism is something very violent that is meant to hurt and scare many people.
Acts of terrorism have occurred for many years in many places. For the United State...
How to talk to children about terrorist threats
In today's world, parents are faced with the challenge of explaining violence, terrorism and war to children. Although difficult, these conversations are extremely important. They give parents an opportunity to help their children feel more secure and...
Why Hitting is Harmful to Children
As a parent you love your child more than anything in the world. And most of all, you want your child to grow up feeling loved and happy. But children are very difficult to understand and their behavior is hard to manage. Children can be aggressive, refuse to listen and break your rules. When children act out, parents tend to feel powerless and frightened by the behavior, (“Maybe there is something wrong with my child”), and fear leads to anger. This often causes parents to respond impulsively.
Emotionally Neglectful Family? 7 Tips for the Holidays
Well, it’s that time of year again. The most difficult time of year for you if you belong to an emotionally neglectful family. First let’s define Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN), and then take a look at how CEN plays out in your family after the children have grown up. Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN): When parents fail to respond enough to the child’s emotional needs.
Parenting a Substance Abuser
Parenting is an inherently guilt-inducing endeavor. Whether it's a skinned knee or a failing grade, parents find it hard to resist blaming themselves for their children's struggles. It's true that parents have a strong impact on who their children bec...
Parents Wield Significant Power to Prevent Teen Substance Abuse
While many parents may throw their hands up as they attempt to control their teen, new research suggests parents actually can make a difference by being involved in their teens’ life. Adolescence is admittedly a time when many children may consider experimenting with alcohol or drugs. Emerging findings, however, suggest that parents can reduce the risk by maintaining a healthy and open relationship with their children.
Witnessing Drug Use Can Prompt Same-Day Antisocial Behavior in Teens
Teens who witness others drinking alcohol or using drugs are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior on the same day, according to a new study at Duke University. The risk is significantly greater for those with a certain “risk-taking” gene associated with sensitivity to substance use exposure.
Storm and STRESS
Teens are under more stress today than ever before. Sound like an exaggeration? Despite the fact that I am often prone to hyperbole, consider this: being a teenager is not easy. Adolescence has always been a tricky developmental period defined by fundamental, yet somewhat difficult changes (physical, cognitive, and social) experienced by teens as they make their way from childhood toward adulthood. These transitions trigger changes in the way the teen sees him/herself, and the way that others see and treat him or her. They are no longer children, but not yet adults, and this series of transitions not only ...
CFGC Fall 2015 Newsletter
Volume 4; Issue 10 - We envision children and families flourishing in vibrant communities. What's Inside: Pledge to Prevent Youth Substance Abuse, Facts About Co-Occurring Disorder, CFGC and PALS Keep Kids Safe and more...
8 Ways to Recover From Post Childhood Adversity Syndrome
Cutting-edge research tells us that experiencing childhood emotional trauma can play a large role in whether we develop physical disease in adulthood.
20 (or More) Healthy Coping Skills for Teens
Being a teenager can be one of the most emotionally tumultuous times of our lives. When I think back to being sixteen, I can faintly recall a blur of emotions, intensity, social pressures and an awkwardness that helps me relate to teens I have the honor of meeting every day. I can’t even imagine how difficult it is these days with the internet and social media to add to the dramatic flair of the teenage years.
A FREE Resource for Parents and Caregivers
In an age when information is accessible virtually anywhere, parents and caregivers can have resources available to them right at their fingertips. CFGC now offers free parenting and health tips in a mobile app "CFGCtips." The app provides "take anywh...
Fun Things to Do With an ADHD Child
Let’s be honest. Kids with ADHD get bored. Reeeeeeally bored. And it happens a lot quicker for them than it does for other kids. Anyone who’s ever been the caretaker of a child with ADHD knows exactly what I’m talking about. You plan fun activities, exhaust yourself trying to get everyone ready, load your stuff in the car, and then once you get there, the child only enjoys the activity for about three minutes.