Parenting

• Children Who Can’t Pay Attention / ADHD

  Parents are distressed when they receive a note from school saying that their child “won’t listen to the teacher” or “causes trouble in class.” One possible reason for this kind of behavior is Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

• Child Abuse – The Hidden Bruises

  The statistics on physical child abuse are alarming. It is estimated hundreds of thousands of children are physically abused each year by a parent or close relative. Thousands die. For those who survive, the emotional trauma remains long after the external bruises have healed.

• Children and Divorce

  One out of every two marriages today ends in divorce and many divorcing families include children. Parents who are getting a divorce are frequently worried about the effect the divorce will have on their children. During this difficult period, parents may be preoccupied with their own problems, but continue to be the most important people in their children’s lives.

• Teens Headed for Trouble: Turning it Around

  Is your teenager out-of-control? Staying out all night? Not telling you where she is? Cutting school? Talking back to you in mean and hurtful ways? Hurting herself and those around her? Are you thinking of sending her to her father? Have you already called in the law, or social services out of desperation? Do you feel it is either you or her?

• Saying “I Love You”

  In many families, these words come easily. But if you grew up never hearing them, saying “I love you” may feel somewhat unnatural to you. Or if members of your family used loving statements to control or manipulate, you may be very uncomfortable using them with your own children.

• Deciding to Spare the Rod

  Imagine if someone with authority said to you that you could not use corporal punishment to discipline your children. Stop and think…how would you handle it?

• Teenage Development

  We need to better understand adolescent developmental stages to help us not take teenage behavior as a personal attack on us. By becoming familiar with these stages, we will increase our competence in encouraging teens to establish their sense of identity.

• What is Normal Development?

  Development is given in a range of years. Each child develops as an individual. Ask yourself, are you expecting too much or too little?