13 Jul
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Children’s and teens’ use of electronic devices have vastly increased over the past several years. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that kids ages 8-18 now spend about seven and half hours per day consuming electronic entertainment. On average, they watch about four hours of television or video, spend two hours playing video games, and surf the internet for over an hour. Because many children often use multiple devices simultaneously, a typical child may spend a combined total of more than 10 hours daily using entertaining themselves with electronics. These figures do not include time spent listening to digitally recorded music, texting or talking on the phone. Read more »
12 Jul
Children’s needs shift as they travel across the developmental stages from infancy, middle childhood, adolescence, and into young adulthood. Throughout these stages, parents may need to adjust their strategies accordingly and remain firm but flexible. Parents serve as their children’s secure base from which they could explore the world around them, providing safety and comfort as children’s capacity to explore the world gets bigger and wider. It is also through this attachment that children can learn about relationships, as well as means to regulate their emotions. Read more »
28 May
We are pleased to present a guest post by Sue Soler, LCSW-C, a master’s level social worker with over fifteen years experience working with children and families. Sue works both as a a divorce coach and as a child specialist with families who are going through the process of Collaborative Divorce . As a divorce coach, Sue works with parents who are undergoing divorce to strengthen communication skills, manage emotions, and create goals that address their and their family’s needs . As a child specialist, she serves as an advocate for children, assessing their needs to assist parents in developing plans that meet the needs of the whole family. Sue also serves as a mediator for families undergoing separation or divorce, and helps parents develop creative options to address their family’s needs. Please see Sue’s contact information at the bottom of the post.
Parents who are in a separation or divorce process often feel understandable feelings of overwhelm and trepidation about telling their children what is happening. Still, children greatly benefit when they receive accurate and clear information; without facts, they may answer their own questions and fill the void with inaccuracies and assumptions. Read more »
08 Apr
The Child and Family Mental Health blog is pleased to present its first guest post, written by social worker Jennifer Kogan, a clinical social worker in Washington, DC who specializes in working with parents to solve problems, boost communication skills, and help find ways to make life more manageable. An experienced and caring clinician, Jen has more than 15 years of experience working with families in the Greater Washington, DC area. You can find out more about Jen and here practice here.
Introduction
The level of anxiety that many parents feel seems to be growing all the time. Stress can be high and people have less and less down time. Television and magazine articles may offer quick and easy recipes to solve parenting challenges. However, this kind of information often glosses over reality and can leave entire families feeling unheard and alone. Read more »
07 Apr
Garrison Keillor, the musical host of the Minnesota radio show
A Prairie Home Companion, recently sang a song on his show entitled “The Only Living House Dad in Eau Claire
“ about a dad who wishes he lived in San Francisco, where there would be others like him. While stay-at-home fathers were once rare, a U.S. Census report indicates that in 2007 there were 159,000 fathers who were the primary care takers of their children while their wives worked out of the house. This represented 2.7% of the parents who stayed at home taking care of children, a tripling in the percentage from a decade ago. These figures underestimate the number of fathers with primary responsibility for childcare, in that it doesn’t include single or gay-partnered fathers.
Read more »
11 Feb
Parents who have children with disabilities can obtain great benefit from interfacing with parents in similar situations. Contact with other parents can help parents gain information about effective treatments and educational programs, learn about the best ways of accessing services, and gain emotional support. Many Egroups and web sites for parents in Montgomery County offer opportunities for parents who have children with disabilities to share information and offer each other support; still, many parents yearn for person-to-person contact. The Parents’ Place in Glen Burnie, Maryland provides them with an excellent opportunity to communicate with other parents face-to-face. Read more »
17 Jan
The Washington, D.C. area features families from a variety of racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Children who grow up in this region have a wealth of opportunities to learn about other cultures and gain skills to get along in our increasingly multicultural world. At the same time, a diverse environment can pose unique challenges for children. Explicit, age-appropriate discussions about differences can greatly assist children to navigate their often complex multicultural environments. Read more »
