What You Need To Know About Children's Mental Health May is National Mental Health Month, which means that many relevant organizations focus on increasing awareness of various important facets of mental health through media, events, services, etc. The purpose of this article is to embrace National Mental Health Month by attempting to [...]
Parenting Skills- Part 3 Ways to Talk to Kids That Increase Compliance Welcome back! I hope all readers of this series have been trying these skills and finding some improvements in child behavior by providing more positive attention to desirable behaviors and reducing attention given to undesirable behaviors. The first installment discussed [...]
Recently I read a wise quote online, “Your child is not giving you a hard time, your child is having a hard time.” The slightest difference in wording reframes a child’s behavior and emotions completely. Often as parents, it is challenging to remember that more is going on with our children than meets the [...]
Does your child have difficulty following directions? Do they seem to forget daily routines, chores, or expectations? Do they appear to just not pay attention to instructions or to the details of a task? Or, do they forget steps to a task you have taught over and over again? Visual schedules and aids may be [...]
Parenting is a never ending adventure that goes through numerous twist and turns; just when you think you have it down pat some monkey wrench comes flying your way. There is no one size fits all for parenting but the idea of purposeful parenting simplifies it for us. Purposeful parenting goes beyond giving your children [...]
Helping Children Manage Stress in the Aftermath of School Shootings Sadly, we've had another tragic shooting involving a school. Although we are quite a distance away, the 24/7 news coverage brings this tragedy into our immediacy. Two key principles for parents and teachers in disaster and trauma include: 1) Limit children's exposure to the television [...]
Social Media, Internet and Youth: Tips for Parents As mental health professionals, we’ve come to view social media use as a modern developmental task in which all youth should become proficient. Most teens can be taught to use social media responsibly just like most learn to drive responsibly. As with driving, it takes education, supervised [...]
Is Your Cell Phone Coming Between You and Your Children? by Adam Benton, Ph.D. and Mary Ekdahl, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologists at Arkansas Families First, LLC. Children, smartphones, and social media have made the news again, but not in the way you might think! This time it is not about the risk of online predators, too [...]
Resources for Families Facing the Trauma of Tornadoes and their Aftermath From the National Child Traumatic Stress Network In light of the numerous tornadoes that have impacted the communities in Arkansas and surrounding states, our friends at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) have developed some helpful materials on this topic: Tornado Response Factsheets [...]
Parenting "Troubled Children": Some "Unspeakable" Honesties ADHD, OCD, ODD, Sensory Issues, Anxiety, Autism Spectrum Disorders…whatever diagnosis it’s called in your child’s case, all you really know is that it’s painful. Painful, upsetting, guilt-ridden, and exhausting. Even the simplest of routines become difficult with your child. The most menial tasks become unmanageable. [...]
