With anniversaries of the devastating 2011 summer of disasters returning tragic images to our screens, parents should consider the impact on children of repetition of these traumatic events. Australian Council on Children and the Media Vice President and child psychologist Dr C Glenn Cupit, says “parents would be wise to avoid exposing children to replays of footage of disasters.” Although children may not have physically experienced the traumatic event, exposure to disaster-related media “can leave children with lasting memories, the recall of which can create anxiety and stress.” Read full article
With a new Australian study indicating that 1 in 12 adolescents self-harm, it’s important for parents and carers to keep informed about self-harm and what it can mean for their child ... Self-harm or self-injury refers to a person deliberately inflicting physical harm on themself to cope with or communicate their distress ...Why Do Children Self-Harm? Read full article
I’m quite an outgoing person – not a ‘raving extrovert’ but do I love meeting people, finding out all I can about them, telling them something (okay, a lot) about me, and I thrive in other people’s company. I love talking and chatting and debating – you might’ve already figured that out about me by now. But I don’t fit all the stereotypes of an extrovert ... One of our boys was quite a tentative young man when he was a toddler and young primary school student. Read full article
Children as young as 8 years old are seeing psychologists. Their parents say they are suffering anxiety as a result of being on Facebook; anxious about what friends are posting about them. I say parents need to remember that Facebook firstly is not allowed for children under 13, and importantly, it's not a safe place for children. Read full article
“I don’t like big erfquakes, They’re stupid!!” exclaims almost three year old Marco, now a veteran of two major earthquakes and living with his parents and older brother in Christchurch, New Zealand. Since September 2010 when the first major earthquake hit the ‘Garden City’ of New Zealand, Marco has labelled every run down building or scaffolding in the street as “Look at that big erfquake” and on the day prior to the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, his house was burgled – his first reaction “an erfquake.” Read full article
Last week was a quiet week for blogging and writing on happychild. I was distracted. My brother, his wife and their two little boys live in Christchurch New Zealand. They are fortunate and we are relieved – they are safe and their house has only minor damage. ... Since September, many people in Christchurch have continued to feel anxious and stressed and this has been compounded by the frequent aftershocks that jolt them out of temporary distraction, and remind them that they’re living with risk. Read full article
Parents looking back on their own teenage years might think that anxiety was a normal part of the experience of awkwardly growing into their adult selves. And in fact, a certain level of anxiety is normal in everyone, says Dr Ron Rapee, Director of the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University. But when your teen’s anxiety is starting to interfere with everyday life and preventing them from doing things they should normally enjoy, this could be a sign that your adolescent has a form of anxiety disorder. Read full article
Anxiety is thought to affect around one in ten children, which makes it a very common, if not the most common, childhood wellbeing issue. Yet parents of children with anxiety are often confused. It seems that anxiety is part of your child’s personality, so how do you change it? And fears are a natural and important part of growing up, so how do you tell when your child has a problem? Read full article
Ten minutes before we’re due to leave for school, my seven-year-old tells me, ‘I’ve got a sore tummy. I feel sick.’ Just a minute earlier she was running up and down the hallway with her little sister, giggling fit to bust. Now she’s clutching her belly and looking pale. Read full article
Do you have a shy child? Some degree of shyness can be normal in children but if your child is distressed or unhappy then there are things parents can do to help. Alison Tait spoke to Professor Ron Rapee from Macquarie University. Read full article
