Category Archives: Children’s Mental Health

Taming the Mood Monster: The Fiery Dragon

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Anger. We all recognize this strong emotion. Clenched fists, stomping feet, loud and harsh words, and a menacing gaze – I envision a wrathful dragon spewing fire that destroys everything in its path. Sometimes anger even manifests as physically aggressive behavior or destruction of property.  Many children find managing their anger quite difficult, particularly if they have a psychiatric diagnosis like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Even children without mental disorders struggle with temper outbursts. My 6-year-old son is especially prone to such outbursts. While he is all things wonderful most of the time, he is […]

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Demystifying Psychiatric Hospitalization

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What We Know 1 in 5 youth ages 13 – 18 have or will have a serious mental illness 50% of all life-time cases of mental illness begin by the age of 14 Almost 80% of youth with mental illness do not receive treatment Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for youth aged 15 – 24 90% of those who committed suicide had an underlying mental illness Rate of psychiatric hospitalization for youth are on the rise – nearly 10% of pediatric hospitalizations across the US were for a primary mental health diagnosis in 2009 Common reasons for […]

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Bullying – 10 Facts to Know

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1) Bullying is a defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that is repetitive, involves a real or perceived power imbalance, and is designed to cause fear, distress or harm 2) There are 4 types of bullying – verbal, social, physical, and cyberbullying 3) Verbal bullying – saying or writing mean things, name calling, teasing, making inappropriate sexual comments 4) Social bullying – designed to malign a child’s reputation or negatively impact peer relationships, intentionally leaving someone out, telling other peers not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors 5) Physical bullying – pushing, hitting, kicking, intentionally breaking someone’s […]

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Successfully Managing the Morning Routine

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Like many of you, weekday mornings are chaotic at best. I have 3 children, ages 2, 6, and 9. Many days no one wants to even get out of bed. Other days, everyone is up but arguments ensue about what to wear – shorts in 50 degree weather, horribly mismatched clothing, or my son who questions the necessity of underwear. Then there’s trouble deciding what to eat for breakfast, finding shoes, and “Oh, I forgot, can you sign this mommy?” all within the last 10 minutes before the mad dash out the door in the midst of praying that they don’t […]

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The 10 Commandments of Healthy Parenting, Part III

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7) Respect goes both ways R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Aretha Franklin sang about; and, we all expect, no, demand it, from others, especially from our children. But oftentimes we fail to show our children the very respect we are seeking. A few respect rules in our house are: Wait until mommy and daddy finish talking before you interrupt and start asking us a million questions Make eye contact when we are engaging in conversation Knock before barging into mommy and daddy’s bedroom Simply respond “yes m’am/sir” or “no m’am/sir” rather than sighing heavily, pouting, yelling, or stomping off even when you don’t like what […]

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The 10 Commandments of Healthy Parenting, Part II

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4) Exercise the gift of choice Many days all I want is for each of my children to do exactly what I say exactly when I say it and to do it without grumbling, loud and heavy sighs, or 20 questions. This would make my life so much easier; but, oftentimes there are protests and rebuttals. To interrupt the brewing dissension, I offer my children choices. Do you want to wear blue or black shorts today? Do you want chicken or turkey burgers for dinner? Would you rather grab lunch now or go with me to the store to pick […]

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