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Fostering the Development of Children’s Self-Esteem

Self esteem is… a person’s overall assessment of her or his personal adequacy or worth. (Weiten, 1998) feelings of self-worth stemming from the individual’s positive or negative beliefs about being valuable and capable. www.dphilpotlaw.com/html/glossary.html feeling good about yourself. It means liking yourself and being content with, and even proud of, who you are.(Hartley-Brewer, 2004) a […]

Communication and Childhood Anxiety

Childhood worries and anxiety are a common challenge for many parents. In this post, we will be considering a cognitive-behavioural approach to working with children and their worries. A cognitive-behavioural approach works most effectively with children who are able to think in a structured sequence and understand cause and effect. This makes it more appropriate […]

Common Communication Challenges for Parents

This post provides an overview of working with parents on common challenges of parenting. In particular, this chapter considers how to work with parents whose children are displaying aggressive behaviour or suffering from anxiety. To work on these issues it is crucial that parents have developed a parent-child relationship based on solid communication and trust. […]

Communicating with Children and Discipline

Disciplining children effectively, not only requires a great deal of persistence but also the ability to communicate clearly and succinctly with children. When working with parents on the issue of disciplining their children, it is important to ensure that all disciplinary strategies are age-appropriate. Bad behaviour comes with penalties Carroll & Reid (2005) suggest that […]

Communicating Effectively with Children

Developing, fostering and maintaining an open, trusting and committed child-parent relationship is the foundation of effective parenting. This kind of relationship is established through regular honest and respectful communication. First, consider the mechanisms that parents may employ to establish an open channel of communication between themselves and their children. By combining appropriate language with useful […]

What is Assertiveness?

Assertiveness is the ability to express one’s feelings, opinions, beliefs and needs directly, openly and honestly, assert one’s rights whilst respecting the feelings and rights of another (Lloyd, 1998). Non-assertive individuals may be passive, aggressive or passive-aggressive. Passive clients appear to be unconcerned with their own rights and are more likely to allow others to […]

Losing a Loved One: Moving Forward

Together we have looked at your individual reactions and feelings after the death of your loved one. We have then explored ways of coping which range from relaxation techniques to journal writing and rituals. After that we have learnt how to assist those who are grieving including the different developmental ages of children. And lastly, […]

Losing a Loved One: Gender Differences

Men and women often grieve differently. Whilst this section may prove helpful in understanding the gender differences, it is important not to stereotype our views and recognise the uniqueness of each grieving individual. Unfortunately, many young boys are taught to be “strong” and to hide their emotions. Society has placed huge expectations on the roles […]

Losing a Loved One: Helping Others Grieve

You may be reading this series wondering how to help someone close to you, grieve the loss of their loved one. Some people have firm beliefs about the grieving process and what should and should not be done when assisting others. Generally speaking, there are some myths about grieving which should be considered when assisting […]

Losing a Loved One: Strategies to Cope

Whether the loss of your loved one was sudden or expected, the grief associated with the loss hurts. Sometimes we put ourselves through unnecessary pain by wishing for things like a better relationship or more time with the deceased, or the opportunity to say things we didn’t say when we were with the person. This […]

Losing a Loved One: Prior Losses

Some of us may feel we have encountered more than our fair share of losses in life. The emotion of grief is not restricted to the reaction to the death of a relative or close friend. It can be experienced in many situations including divorce, miscarriage, severe injury, loss of a job or pet, or […]