Understanding the Power Mean Girls Have Over Your Tween
Understanding Why Queen Bees are Able to Hold Court: The Reality of Tween Mean Girls
There is a lot of discussion out there about ‘mean girls.’ This focus is indeed warranted, as girls tend to be judged, and judge themselves based on their ability to engage in relationships. We use the term ‘relational aggression’ to describe the kind of connection forming that involves coercion or intimidation. Queen Bees are identified as the champions of this sport. Specifically, they are the girls who wield power over others. They are both respected and feared. With a simple comment or direction a queen bee can ensure that one of her disciples is either admired or shunned.
How to Integrate Learning into Your Child’s Day
Ways to Contribute to Your Child’s Learning Experience
The rate at which children learn and develop is staggering – especially in the first five years of a child’s life. Did you know that 90% of a child’s brain develops during those formative early years? While many skills will come naturally such as eating, sleeping and swallowing – your child has a lifetime of learning ahead of them, and now is the time to establish a solid foundation for them.
For the type of learning that takes intentional teaching, your child will need a structured environment with creative activities to promote critical thinking skills. Whether your child is educated primarily at home or in a preschool or daycare facility, you have an integral part to play in these early years. A formalized education is only as effective as the adults in a child’s life who are willing to also incorporate learning in a more informal, natural way during the course of the day.
Does Your Child Have a Hidden Visual Spatial Challenge?
Psychologist Shares 3 Therapeutic Activities for Kids with Visual Spatial Issues
Most children learn in infancy that they can grab a familiar treat and put it in their mouth, and the good taste will make them happy. They use sight, smell, taste and touch to identify the treat, and movement to reach for it and to pop it in their mouth.
How to Help Your Child Get Over a Fear of the Dark
Fear of the Dark:
Rite of Passage or Destructive Emotion?
If you go to the library to find some resources on helping your children get over the fear of the dark; you’ll probably be hard pressed to find very much. Although the fear of the dark is said to plague millions of children, it is still a subject that most parents know very little about.
Most parents will end up willing to do just about anything after frustration and exhaustion takes over. You hear of children sleeping with their parents for weeks, if not months. Parents hire therapists to help their kids overcome such anxieties and many children are simply left to deal with their fears on their own. While most methods have their validity, some are more effective than others.
What Brain Research Can Show About How Your Child’s Brain Develops
The New GPS for Parents: Finding Guidance in Brain Research
by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D.
It has become a common statement emanating from the mouths of parents: I wish my teen came with an owner’s manual! For years we have relied on the wisdom of past generations, our own upbringing and a host of books, articles and now, blogs filled with ‘expert’s’ advice.
Research then entered the picture; giving parents more data based advice. One of the earliest and best examples was the study released from Harvard about fifteen years ago, dubbed ‘raising the water level.’ In that study, children whose parents allowed them more freedom of movement and exploration during the toddler years showed a significant difference in intellectual development. This was accomplished by moving harmful objects up out of the reach of children so that they were not constantly stopped from exploring and touching and movement. The older they got and the farther they could reach or move, the higher things were raised above their grasp. In other words, ‘raising the water level’ raised the richness of their experiences, and thus enhanced their growing brains.
How to Help Your Child Develop Better Thinking Skills
Using Questions to Help Kids Develop Better Thinking Skills
Guest post by Kids ‘R’ Kids
Early childcare researchers have learned a lot about the ways the brain functions in very young children. Many parents, as a result, want to help their child develop better thinking skills. Research has shown that one of the best ways to develop thinking skills is through the art of questioning.
There are different levels of questioning from the adult and also various responses from the child. It has been found, quite logically, that lower-level questions elicit lower-level responses. Higher-level questioning, on the other hand, tends to elicit higher-level thinking responses. Let’s discuss some of the differences between lower-level and higher-level questions and responses.