Social skills for teens
We all know that young children need to be taught social skills and usually feel like we’ve succeeded once we get them to say “please” and”thank you” and to remember their table manners. But the lessons don’t stop there – here are social skills for teens to master: * Making eye contact. Yup, I know […]
Effects of divorce on kids – what are the risk factors?
A divorce is, by it’s very nature a traumatic and unpleasant experience for all concerned. This is a very difficult time for children, but parents may unknowingly make the experience harder than it needs to be. Divorce can have a long-lasting negative impact on children’s development and in this article we look at some of […]
What to do if your child has a slow handwriting speed
Having slow handwriting can be very distressing for children during timed tasks such as tests and exams. I often get panicked phone calls from the parents children in higher grades about this. Unfortunately a slow handwriting speed is usually only identified in higher grades, when children simply can’t keep up with volume of work required. […]
Is my baby being naughty?
The word “naughty” just doesn’t seem to fit with the picture most of us have of little babies and I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate to describe babies as either “good” or “naughty”. Instead we should rather try to evaluate whether a baby’s behaviour is age-appropriate or not. For instance, it’s entirely age appropriate for […]
Violence in schools
Violent behaviour in schools has undoubtedly increased in recent decades. For a short period following the Morne Harmse (Samurai sword killer) case things seemed to have calmed down and education specialists and teachers were all keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that was the last violent attack – but recent incidences of violence suggest that we […]
Benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling
With the increase in technologies that enable parents to work from home and from relatively remote regions I find that more and more parents are considering homeschooling their children. Added to this is the disillusionment many parents feel with the traditional schooling system and it’s overall failure to produce self-directed learners. Here are some […]
Developmental delay
Developmental delay is the umbrella term used when we first become aware that a child is not achieving his / her developmental milestones as they should. Before I focus further on developmental delay though, I’d like to just pause for a minute and elaborate on what we mean when we say that children are not […]
What do YOU want to hear more about?
No doubt about it – being a parent is hard! We know one of the best ways to help you with this difficult task is to provide you with heaps of free information because the more you know, the better the decisions you’ll be able to make. Our goal with the Childpsych website is to […]
What kids can learn from Superheroes
The loud, rambunctious shenanigans of cape-and-mask wearing children have lead many a stressed-out mother to proclaim: “Enough with the Superheroes! I’m taking away those costumes / comic books / DVD’s and from now on you’ll only have access to characters who keep you calm and quiet”. But don’t be too quick to bin Superman and […]
Kids learning activities – Three fun ways to increase your child’s general knowledge
With the ever increasing volume of academic work that children are required to master, general knowledge topics are often neglected both at school and at home. A good general knowledge is considered an indicator of intelligence; it enriches us as people; helps us understand the world as a whole and at the very least, makes […]