Children with low self-esteem are usually anger to relate but fear being able to relate successfully. Since failure is most threatening to them, be positive and success-oriented in your approach. As I mentioned before, one of my usual approaches in relating to a new child in tutoring or therapy is to have ready a series of nonthreatening questions in neutral …

Ease Your Childs Back-to-School Jitters — What you can do to help your little scholar feel better about the coming school year. Even if you don’t know exactly why your child is anxious, here are a few things you can do to help him or her feel better about the coming school year: Talk about your first-day-of-school experiences — If you don’t remember, have …

May 17 — It’s celebration time in Japan. The Imperial Household Agency confirmed this week that Crown Princess Masako is pregnant with her first child, news reports said. The news of the princess’ pregnancy appears to have stimulated hopes for a change in attitudes in traditional Japanese society. On the one hand, Japanese think-tanks have started pressing for a change in the …

While rolling over, walking and talking are important developmental landmarks for all babies, getting them to sleep through the night is a critical step forward for parents. Haven’t we all experienced this – exhausted from the tasks of the day, the moment you snuggle under covers, ready to drop off, you hear a familiar sound – the baby crying for …

I wanted my kids to be good eaters. It mattered quite a lot to me, in fact. But I wondered, during the breast-pump-and-jar-food days, what I could do to help them grow up liking not only broccoli and oranges but also salmon, parsnips, and sheep’s-milk cheese, as I do. Or was appetite one of those things, like personality and hair …

As pre-adoptive parents, many couples deal with infertility and the long stretched-out process of adoption. Once the process gets completed, they finally reap the sweet fruit of their patience and get their baby and suddenly become parents to a tiny, squirming, little one. They suddenly feel complete and full of amazement and happiness. But then panic and anxiety find their …

Toys are necessary for a child to play and learn. From about three months, a baby needs stimulation in the form of simple playthings. A mobile suspended above the crib will amuse the baby and provide visual stimulation. Noise-making toys such as bells or rattles are useful as soon as the child learns to hold an object in his hands. …

My aunt fits into the image of ‘perfect mother’ in happy-family television ads. Her three children are always dressed well, is never too busy to listen to her children, she manages her house with quiet efficiency, thrives on crisis and smiles through it all as if life is a piece of cake. When you ask her the secret behind her …

A baby weighs about three kilograms at birth, and loses 150-200 g in the first three to four days. After that he grows rapidly and gains about 25 to 30 g a day for the first three months and a little less rapidly after that. The widely accepted formula that a baby doubles his birth weight at five months and …

Ameya’s parents were shocked. The doctor attributed the plump 12-year-old’s lack of concentration and attentiveness to malnutrition. How could a chubby-looking child from an upper class family be undernourished, they wondered? Obviously Ameya’s parents have mistaken their obese child to be healthy. And obese child usually grows up to become an obese adult. What are the effects of obesity? Parents …