child development Archives - Laurie Hollman, Ph.D.

Who Knows Your Child Best? You Do!

May 8, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

How Parents Foster Positive Emotional Development

Becoming a keen observer of your child may go even further in fostering positive emotional development than self-help articles, parenting books, and parenting websites and blogs. As a writer of all of those, it may seem surprising for me make this suggestion, but you’re the one who spends the most time with your child, was there from the beginning, can track changes in moods, social encounters, learning styles, and interests in activities.

So, who can learn to be a better judge of your child’s emotional well-being than you?

Be Present When it Matters

May 8, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Parents need to be around when it matters for their kids – crisis times such as down days, difficult exams, relationship breakdowns, changes in family dynamics and important transition times. How do you know what stresses them out? How do you make it clear that you are available anytime your child needs to talk.

How Do You Recognize What is a Crisis for Your Child?

Notice mood changes. If you have a usually gregarious child who has been blocking everyone out, something is probably on his mind.
If you have a more reserved child, but they seem scattered and disorganized which is out of character, again pay attention.

Helping Kids Feel Safe By Using Parental Intelligence

March 2, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Nothing is more basic to an infant, a child, and an adolescent than feeling and staying safe. This applies not only to physical safety but to emotional safety based on trust in attachment to at least one parent. Without this, all else of importance falls away. A sense of safety is at the core of Parental Intelligence.

How Do We Know If Our Children Feel Emotionally Safe?

There are two ways to learn if our children feel safe: to listen to them carefully and to observe the nuances of their behavior.

She’s Not Bossy, She’s a Leader: 10 Ways to Know a Bossy Child from a Potential Leader

February 11, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

It’s so common to see little three and four-year-olds telling their peers and adults what to do with such ferocity you wonder where that gumption came from. It stops being cute when they keep demanding their way and you find yourself helpless to curb their appetites for getting what they want from others all the time. They expect their peers to play what they choose, follow their rules for as long as they want until they change the rules to suit them or change the game.

Rushing to Work When Your Child Has Separation Anxiety

January 21, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Separation anxiety is a problem for parents when they need to go to work. This creates a conflict for a busy parent rushing in the early morning hours. What to do?

Because your child has separation anxiety, always leave at least half an hour of free time before you leave for work. This probably means getting up earlier, but it’s worth it.

Listen to your crying child’s words of fear about you leaving. Paraphrase their worry so they know you listened and care. (“I know you’re upset I’m leaving the house now. It’s distressing.”)

Managing Anxiety in Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

January 21, 2019 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Anxiety in preschoolers is important for parents. Managing anxiety in under fives depends very much on their ability to verbalize. If their vocabulary isn’t large it’s important to attend to their body language. Here are some tips for managing anxiety in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Infants

Infancy from birth to age one is a wonderful time for rapid growth. Only you know your baby’s ways of communicating as you get to know him or her. She communicates by crying, turning her body this way and that, facial expressions, wiggling her toes, turning her head away from you or towards you, and many more gestures that only you pick up so frequently.

Kids’ Healthy Expressions of Anger

December 9, 2018 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Help your kids, children and teens, learn that anger is a healthy emotion that can be constructively shared. If kids learn this then they are less defiant, less oppositional, more open, and self-assertive. Here’s how to accomplish this feat!!

Parenting Tips for Healthy Expressions of Anger

Let kids know early on that anger is a natural emotion that everyone has but it’s all about how it’s expressed to make a positive impact on others.

Parenting Kids with Overt and Covert Anxiety

December 9, 2018 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Parenting kids with overt and covert anxiety using Parental Intelligence will ease their minds.Kids show their anxiety in overt and covert ways. For some it is obvious. They are nervous, panicky, fearful, obsessive, phobic, and socially awkward. But others show anxiety indirectly masked behind unusual irritability, frustration, annoyance, and even anger that seems out of control. The latter are kids who have trouble verbalizing their anxiety and they can be harder to reach.

Helping the Overt Anxious Child with Parental Intelligence

Parenting Through Temper Tantrums

October 7, 2018 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

What is a Tantrum?

A tantrum occurs when a child’s whole system of managing their feelings and thoughts collapses. A tantrum is a communication that seems to happen suddenly for both child and parent. The child may lie down on the floor with flailing arms and legs, screaming and crying. The parent needs to discover the trigger before taking action except for making sure the child is safe. The triggers may be minor such as disappointing a child’s wish for a toy, saying “no” to requests, expecting kids to tolerate delays and be patient when they have not learned to tolerate frustration well, and rivalry with siblings.

Critical Thinking and the Importance of Plau

July 20, 2018 by Laurie Hollman, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Play is often structured in games, sports, video games, and classes that teach something like karate or painting. But there are great advantages to unstructured play which is left to the imagination of the child. Without specific rules or an adult present.kids are left to use their own creativity to create narratives about whatever is on their minds. This may take the form of climbing a tree, building a fort out of couch pillows, or playing with superhero figures in a story. What ever form it takes, the child is the creator.

Critical Thinking