Parenting

Mummy, Where Do Babies Come from? A Few Books to Spark a Gentle Introduction to a Sensitive Topic 

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I have been waiting for this question for a few years now. When my six-year-old daughter finally asked me one day about babies, I reached out to the books I had bought long ago. First, I asked my daughter what she knew about this topic. Remember the extra virgin oil commercial? Since she didn’t know anything, I proceeded with the books. I want to say there was an order to my method, but who are we kidding? I just grabbed one of the books listed …

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Tending the Garden of Our Soul

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Frog was in his garden. Toad came walking by.  “What a very fine garden  you have, Frog,” he said.  “Yes”, said Frog. “It is very nice, but it was hard work.”  “I wish I had a garden,” said Toad.  “Here are some flower seeds. Plant them in the ground”, said Frog, “and soon you too will have a garden”.  “How soon?” asked Toad.  “Quite soon,” said Frog.  Toad ran home. He planted the flower seeds.  “Now seeds,” said Toad, “start growing.”  Toad walked up and down a few times. The seeds did not …

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When Threats Don’t Solve Conflictual Situations with Our Children

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Some time ago, I heard a frustrated parent telling their child: “Do this one more time, and I will take away all your toys”. Unsurprisingly, the child reacted with screams and cries. Far from me to judge this interaction, as all parents reach that exhausting point of running low on time, sleep, and energy, and for once, they just need some peace and quiet, and kids listen to them.   However, imagine the child reacts after a few fights like this: “Fine, take my toys. …

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Interoception, the Sense that Builds the Mind

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Our five senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Proprioception is frequently called “the sixth sense”, which helps us with body position, movement and action. This sense allows for walking in the darkness without losing balance. The finger nose proprioception test is a bedside test to check if a patient can touch their nose with the finger while the eyes are closed. Patients with proprioceptive impairment will miss the tip of the nose.   The vestibular system is a sensory system occasionally called “the seventh sense”. This system …

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Healthy Methods to Handle Our Children’s Anxieties

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Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, an American fighter pilot in World War I  Some children are more anxious than others. For them, dangers seem to be everywhere: a new brother or sister, going to a new school, a change of routines, separation anxiety.   Consider that our children fear doing something. Which of the following answers do we usually say? (some answers are picked from Lawrence Cohen’s book The Opposite of Worry)   …

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The Wisdom of Children’s Book “The Missing Piece meets the Big O” in Describing Relationships, Breakups, and Self-Discovery

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Now and then, I come across children’s books that express profound life lessons through soul-stirring imagery and minimalist choice of words. Reminiscing about an age that thought in metaphors and spoke in rhymes, these books talk on different levels to small children, bigger kids and adults.  Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth. They …

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Nurturing Curiosity in Children through Dopamine Sprinkles

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I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity. I recall the words of my former head of school, already 70 years old, gathering her pupils in her library and saying, “You must cultivate curiosity, for only through curiosity can you learn, not only what there is in books, but what lies around you in the world of things and people.”  Eleanor Roosevelt Defends Curiosity | …

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Emotional Escapism: How Watching TV Shows Help Us Cope with Life’s Stressors

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I simply couldn’t finish a new tv series for the last two years, as I was more drawn to my comfort shows, Monk, Brooklyn 99, Derry Girls, or Avatar: The Last Airbender. There is something oddly comforting in rewatching favourite tv shows when confronting pandemics, lockdowns, social injustice, or war. Comfort watching, instead of binge watching, is that gentle feeling that everything feels ok with the world. There is no twist, dialogue, or scene that could surprise me when I rewatch these shows, giving me a reassuring impression …

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