A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Moms may be notorious worriers, but babies of anxious mothers may also spend more time focusing on threats in their environment, according to a team of researchers. In a study, researchers used eye-tracking technology to measure how long babies spent looking at happy, neutral and angry faces. They found that the babies with anxious moms [...]
My 13-year-old daughter literally cringes when I touch her. Any attempt at showing affection to my once cuddly and affectionate daughter is now met with resistance. You know, the I’m-a-teen-and-I’m-way-too-old-for-this attitude that consumes our children sometime between the ages of 11 and 16. When I fall victim to this melancholy temperament, I’m quickly driven into [...]
In a WA-first, virtual reality goggles are helping children feel less anxious when they have blood tests and other painful procedures. The technology is being used as a pilot program at St John of God Health Care hospitals and takes children on an underwater adventure to distract them. St John of God Health Care group [...]
Most parents and caregivers know they shouldn’t hit kids. They’re also aware that emotional punishments—shaming, yelling, ridiculing—have unhappy unintended consequences. But the same adults often believe it’s okay to isolate kids when the adult doesn’t like the way the child is behaving. Adults Need Timeouts (for Themselves) We all get overwhelmed sometimes. That’s when we’re [...]
A new study has found that people who spend the most time browsing social media, especially Facebook, showed some traits similar to those of the autism spectrum disorder, including an inability to read facial emotions. The study, by the University of the Sunshine Coast, compared 200 people who grew up without Facebook to those who [...]
Slow weight gain in early childhood, also known as faltering growth, may be associated with persisting problems with appetite and feeding, says NICE, in new guidance published today. The NICE guideline aims to improve diagnosis, assessment and monitoring of children with faltering growth and to help GPs and health visitors support parents and carers to [...]
My 9-year-old son Ibrahim loves being home from school for the summer. For about five minutes. After that, the complaints and requests start. I know he’s not purposely trying to be a pest. He’s just giving me a kid-signal: spend time with me! “Can you make me a snack? What’s for lunch? Why can’t my [...]
A breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to destroy childhood leukemia has been approved by US officials, opening a new era in cancer care. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called the approval historic, the first gene therapy to hit the US market. Made from scratch for [...]
Although it's great to have a range of personality types and temperaments in a classroom, teachers and parents naturally worry if a child is always quiet. Here are some ways to help a shy child shine in the classroom. And many of these tips will work in other situations, as well. 1. Figure out what your shy students are interested in. You [...]
Psychologists call the act of defining ourselves by one choice, one situation, or one result catastrophizing. We might decide that we’re a terrible salesperson after just one month of declining numbers, or a horrible friend because we get in a fight with a friend, or that we’ll surely die alone after one painful breakup. I probably don’t have to [...]
