Children will often complain of aches and pains, and it is difficult to know if there is cause for concern. Unfortunately, parents usually try to assess the medical issues and make a decision based on a physical spectrum. However, children dealing with emotional and behavioral issues will complain of the same things, but are often ignored. Read the rest of this entry »
Summer is here! Kids are out of school, and the dreaded feeling of keeping children occupied for two and a half months looms. While summer can be crazy and exhausting, it can also provide some of the best memories of childhood for you and your children. Read the rest of this entry »
We all grow into adults who don’t always use the best ways to communicate, discipline and interact with children. Sometimes, we are unaware of little things that we do or say that have negative effects on kids. Recognizing those issues is the first step, and then learning to model more appropriate behaviors comes next. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of us have been programmed to think that if we want to know something, we ask. If we want more information, we question someone. We want to understand something, so we inquire. Therefore, when we want to “connect” with our children, we ask them about their day, their friends, their feelings. Unfortunately, we usually don’t get the responses for which we had hoped. Read the rest of this entry »
I recently have had an influx of adolescents in my office and I have learned some valuable lessons about how to approach them in the most effective ways. Teenagers have very distinct needs and do not really fit into either the almost-adult or still-a-child category. This can sometimes create difficulties when parents feel that therapy is necessary. Read the rest of this entry »
Children learn best from experience and instruction, which requires parents to set limits on behaviors. However, that does not mean children need to be told “no” hundreds of times each day. Studies show that toddlers typically hear the word “no” 400 times daily, which you can imagine gets tiresome for the parents and the child. Parents can learn to use different ways to communicate limits that are mutually favorable, and a few ideas to get you started follow. Read the rest of this entry »
We live in a society that labels everything. We have labels on our clothes, our cheeseburgers, our meat and produce, and the list goes on. We like the convenience of neatly packaged words so we can sum up the person, place or thing and know what to expect. However, especially with children, even harmless labels can play a lasting role in self-esteem, behavior and long-term personality. Read the rest of this entry »
Last year, I wrote an article with ideas and ways to keep the focus on what is important during the Christmas Season. It doesn’t even seem that a year could have passed so quickly, but here we are in December again! This year, I would like to expand on the topic, and give some new tips that I think you may find helpful.
The more I learn about Play Therapy techniques and principles, the more attuned I am to recognizing when to use them in everyday situations. There are not many dinners out with my husband where I do not recognize and observe opportunities for parents to have used a more effective technique with their children. Along the same lines, I also recognize when people use helpful methods and approach a situation in a manner that I recommend. This happened this weekend during the triathlon in my driveway. Let me explain. This past weekend, the 2007 Ironman Triathlon came to Pinellas and hundreds of athletes temporarily took over the county. It began in Clearwater for the swim, biked north into Palm Harbor and ran back south through Countryside. As it turned out, the “bike” leg of the event came right through my neighborhood.
Socialization is a basic instinct that drives behavior. Wolves live in packs, cattle move in herds, fish swim in schools, geese travel in gaggles. 
Anyway, it seems that the most developed of the animal kingdom seem to have missed the proverbial innate cues somehow. Humans tend to withdraw to the comfort and familiarity of family, at the sacrifice of developing a social network, leading to a growing trend of isolated parents, children and families.