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  • The many ways teens act out to harm themselves - and what you can do about it. (Part 1 of 3)

    Finding out that your child is harming themselves can be shocking, confusing and concerning. Often, parents react in a way that make things worse for the child and the family in general. Given the complexity and importance of this topic, we’ll talk about it in three separate blog posts. In this first post, we’ll discuss ways in which teens may self-harm. Second, we’ll look at contributing factors and reasons why they do it. Lastly, we’ll talk about common red flags and practical exercises to help teens who are struggling. Understanding the contributing factors will help you make adjustments to the “big picture” instead of assuming that all the responsibility lies with the child. The practical exercises are based on the reasons why they do it because teens self-harm for different reasons. Therefore, you have to make sure you match the exercise appropriately. 

  • Room Sharing vs. Bed Sharing

    The differences between these two sleeping arrangements can mean life or death for your baby. Dr. Rachel Prete, Pediatrician at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children answers questions about the differences of each, their pros and cons and tips for new parents considering each approach.

  • What do you do when your child just won't cooperate with getting clean?

    What do you do if your child does not cooperate with hygiene tasks? Should you battle it out? Just let it go? Of all the tasks a parent must help their child with during a day, these can be the most challenging for parents and kids. They are often the “you have to” tasks for parents and the “I won’t” kind of tasks for the child.

  • The many ways teens act out to harm themselves- and what you can do about it

    As we discussed in our earlier blog post on this topic, self-harming behaviors are used as a coping mechanism. You might assume that it would be

  • Is your child with autism spectrum disorder entitled to music therapy services?

    If you have a child with autism, you may find they are especially in tune with certain elements of music like rhythm, harmony, melody, and pitch. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate exceptional skills in music. In fact, many musical skills that are rare within the general population are more common in those with ASD. Examples include incredible accuracy in singing or playing musical notes, the ability to recall melodies with great accuracy, and the ability to name musical notes without any reference to a musical instrument.

  • Are our kids influenced by the bad behavior of others?

    There’s a question that’s been rolling around in my head the last couple of weeks. You know the kind- one of those nagging thoughts you try to put out of your mind but it keeps coming back without any answer on the horizon. If I’m being totally honest, though, it hasn’t only been the last couple of weeks. I’ve been struggling with some version of this question since my oldest started kindergarten, when she emerged from the cocoon of preschool into the big world of elementary school.

  • “You have cancer.”

     “You have cancer” are three words you never want to hear in your life, especially if you’re only twelve years old. That’s how old I was when I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer and it flipped my life upside down. My worries were no longer about normal teenager things like what clothes I was wearing but instead, what new side effect was going to hit me after each chemo treatment. Having to quickly grow up and fight for my life was something I would’ve never anticipated as a child, but no one ever anticipates getting cancer.

  • When helping your kids isn't really helpful

    My oldest son is an all-around great kid. Of course I’m biased, but truly, he is wonderful. He is kind, funny, hard-working, and never gets in trouble. He is in 5th grade this year. Overall, it’s been a good school year, he has done well and maintained great grades. As parents, we could not be more proud of him.

  • The Lost Art of Play

    As a parent, you want the best for your child, but sometimes it is hard to know what is best when it comes to balancing scheduled activities and play time.  While activities such as little league and music groups can provide children with structure, discipline, and increasing independence, over-scheduling can leave kids feeling anxious and pressured to constantly perform.  Free play is not only a time when children can relax and have fun but it is vital to a child’s growth and development.  In the hustle and bustle of life for today’s children, the art of play is seemingly lost.  

  • Learning disabilities: what are they and what can we do about them?

    The term “learning disability” is thrown around pretty loosely these days, yet it’s hard for most of us to come up with an accurate definition of what is actually meant by those words. It’s important for parents to have some idea, though, of what learning disabilities are and what can be done about them. This knowledge will equip you to recognize a problem and get the appropriate help in a timely manner if your child does suffer from a learning disability.