Thursday, May 28, 2015

Stop Bullying at School. Know the Signs that Your Child is being Bullied. Read below:

1.  He’s having difficulties at home, in school, and beyond. When a child is struggling with his emotions, he tends to behave badly across the board  — say, by talking back to his teacher at school, hitting his siblings, and not listening to his coach.
2.  She’s suddenly isolating herself from friends. Friendships change over time and some kids enjoy larger peer groups than others, but if she’s avoiding friends it’s a red flag. Be on the lookout for statements such as, “Everyone hates me” or “I’m a loser” or “I have no friends.”
3.  He’s regressing. Here’s the thing: Kids tend to regress when there’s a major change in their lives, such as the birth of a new sibling, a move, or a divorce between their parents. But, things like bedwetting, clingy behavior, whining, excessive fearfulness, and tantrums that aren’t related to a change (or these behaviors are happening for more than a month after a big change) signal a problem.
4.  She’s incredibly sad and worried. All kids have worries at times and all kids cry. That’s part of childhood. But, worrying isn’t normal if it’s interfering with her ability to go to school or take care of herself.
5.  His sleep habits and/or appetite has changed. Worrisome symptoms include trouble falling or staying asleep, nightmares, eating too much or too little, and excessive headaches and stomachaches.
6.  She’s developed self-destructive behaviors. This can be a difficult one, because sometimes kids do bang their heads against things without intent to harm themselves. Repeated self-destructive behavior, however, is an issue–like, if she’s digging her nails into skin to try to cause pain, or cutting or hitting herself.
7.  He talks about death, or thinks about it repeatedly. It’s normal if he talks about dying and how he might die as he explores the concept of death, but repeated talk about death and dying is a red flag.  Watch out for statements about suicide (in kid language, of course) or killing others. Any talk about suicide or killing another person requires the help of an expert…immediately.

Read more from the source:  https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/7-signs-your-child-needs-to-see-a-therapist-118499742280.html

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

TIP: Staying Comitted to Your Workout Rewires Your Mind to be Conscientious. It Helps You Discipline Your Mind to Finish a Task

The 'good habits' that you become skilled at and reinforce consistently through yoga, strength training, pilates, cardiovascular work... creates a mindset. This mindset becomes the way that you approach everything in life. The mindset of "The Athlete's Way" is transferable to any task or challenge that you need to accomplish on and off the court. One of the biggest drawbacks of being bored and careless is that your quality standard plummets. Once you become jaded, you no longer attack problems and challenges with enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. It's easy to get sucked into the ho-hum mindset of mediocrity. Having a blase 'been-there-done-that" attitude or cynical 'is-that-all-there-is?' response is the quickest way to find yourself trapped, discontent and at the back of the pack. Exercise is a way to turn this around--but it's easy to become bored and sloppy within your workouts, too. Remember to continually mix-it-up inside your workouts and to try different things at the gym. If you exercise outdoors, remember to stay adventurous and exploring new places and pursuing unfamiliar activities. Read more from the source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201112/curiosity-and-conscientiousness-more-important-intelligence

TIP: So as not to encourage abusive behavior, stop reinforcing self-destructive behavior and high emotional reactivity to friends and families

Our behavior is shaped by watching others in our formative years. Between the ages of 2 and 3, the predominant mode of responding to our social environment makes a switch. Before then, it comes from from watching our family, whose attention is essential to our survival, and following their model. This is the time when our mental models of how to behave - referred to by some therapists as schemas - are formed. After age 3, our social behavior depends mostly on previously laid down neural brain tracts based on our past experiences. We respond as if on autopilot and usually do not even realize that consciously. These neural pathways develop sheathes of a chemical called myelin, which greatly increases the speed of nerve impulse conduction. These automatic behavior tendencies can be over-ruled by the thinking part of the brain - the cerebral cortex - but are nonetheless very powerful.The behavior of primary attachment figures like parents are the most potent triggers for automatic behavior throughout our entire lifetimes. Read more on the source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/matter-personality/201503/empathy-child-abuser

TIP: Own up to Your Mistake and Apologize for it! Be a Person of Integrity. Be Responsible

For this to work, there are two characteristics that Apology should always have: First, be good-natured about your error. After all, you are only human. Be able to laugh at yourself. Say, "Gee, I sure did get frustrated with you that time." Second and most important, apologize only for what you actually said or did, but not for the feelings that led to it. Examples: "I am sorry for sounding so critical, but I just had the feeling that you were dismissing everything I said out of hand." "I'm sorry I called you a bitch. That was really out of line - but you sure were pissing me off." This sort of statement frames the former explosive interchange as a mutual problem that the two of you need to work on solving in a constructive manner. And after all, solving interpersonal problems is what effective metacommunication is all about. Read more from the Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/matter-personality/201410/responding-borderline-provocations-last-part