Parenting matters more for some children than for others. Research shows that some children are just predisposed to be greatly influenced by the parenting they receive (for better or worse), while other children will do relatively well regardless of the parenting that they receive. And whether a particular child is highly sensitive to parenting or … Continue reading Positive Parenting for Adolescents at Risk of Depression
Parenting
Why My Career is Important to Me as a Mother
A couple months ago I wrote a post about mothers with young children returning to work, citing research that found no disadvantage for children's academic achievement and behavioural adjustment (except perhaps a small disadvantage when mothers return full time). Now that I am myself a working mother with a young child, I have been reflecting on … Continue reading Why My Career is Important to Me as a Mother
Socialising Male Aggression: The Role of Fathers
Boys are more physically aggressive than girls. This is a statement that most people, and most parents, would agree with. But do boys’ aggressive tendencies come from biological differences between the sexes, or are we raising boys to be more aggressive than girls? While biology plays a role, there is clear research evidence that we … Continue reading Socialising Male Aggression: The Role of Fathers
Recognising the Hard Work of Motherhood
As a kid, Mother's Day was about handmaking cards covered in hearts and flowers at school, and cooking mom breakfast in bed. I got it, but I didn't really get it. My siblings and I often wondered why, if there was a Father's Day and a Mother's Day, there was no such day as a Children's … Continue reading Recognising the Hard Work of Motherhood
5 Ways Parents Can Help Their Children Develop Empathy
Empathy is the ability to feel or imagine another person’s emotional experience. When we see another person who is sad, hurt, or in distress, we can imagine what they are feeling and this motivates us to reach out and try to provide them with assistance. Children start to develop empathy soon after they are born … Continue reading 5 Ways Parents Can Help Their Children Develop Empathy
Debunking Evidence in Support of Cry-it-Out
It's a decision most parents are faced with at some point – whether or not to sleep train their baby. I know it can be a touchy subject, and I know that parents have a number of reasons why they do or do not choose to sleep train. Although for the most part I don't … Continue reading Debunking Evidence in Support of Cry-it-Out
Let’s Talk about Breastsleeping
Breastsleeping: breastfeeding mothers sharing the same or an adjacent sleep surface, (i.e. cosleeping*), with their infants in the absence of all hazardous factors. -- Breastsleeping is a new concept proposed by researchers from the University of Notre Dame. It is an important move towards normalising bedsharing for breastfeeding infants, allowing for proper education surrounding an … Continue reading Let’s Talk about Breastsleeping
Building Trust in the First Year of Life
We track our babies’ progress against many milestones over their first year of life. But one of the most important milestones they can achieve during this time is least prominent for mothers and their health care providers - the development of a secure attachment bond. A secure attachment boils down to the infant’s trust in … Continue reading Building Trust in the First Year of Life
Babies and their Bad Habits
It's so easy to get sucked into the lies about forming bad habits with babies, isn't it? New mothers are a vulnerable group, so desperate to do everything right for their baby no matter the cost (see: sleep deprivation). And since we have been thrown off the deep end into this whole mothering thing, we … Continue reading Babies and their Bad Habits
Parents of Difficult Babies – Your Hard Work is Not in Vain
Sensitive. Intense. Frequent negative emotions. High activity level. Withdraws or doesn't easily adapt to new situations. Irregular feeding and sleep routine. If these terms describe your child then it is likely he or she is what child psychologists would call ‘difficult’. This is in contrast to ‘easy’ children (generally positive moods, routine sleep/wake and feeding … Continue reading Parents of Difficult Babies – Your Hard Work is Not in Vain
The Rambling Mum 