Are we watching the unfolding of a public health emergency?
Many of my middle-aged friends and colleagues are seeing more and more parents not looking at their infants, compared to a time before devices came into being. Parents not engaging with their children is a twofold issue: on the one hand, parents appear distracted by...
Mental wellness and resilience
Hardly a day goes by without a report in the media about the rising rates of anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses in children and young people. The causes are, no doubt, complex and varied. We live in a busy world, with many demands on children and their...
What the heck is going on with young people?
Currently three members of our family or close friends have young adult children who are facing significant mental health problems. It seems that anxiety, depression and a general sense of young people and children not being able to cope is widespread in our...
Look into my eyes
by Kathryn Daniels, speech pathologist, and Michael Hawton, child and family psychologist. Between the two us, we have had over 60 years of clinical experience in speaking with parents and seeing young children in child health settings. Recently, we were chatting at... Building resilience before bullying occurs.
Let’s not wait until they’re bullied to prepare our children for other’s meanness. I think it’s interesting that when children are found to have been bullied we, of course, do what we can to stem the bullying behaviour. We also seek to remedy the hurt through...
Three tips for helping children deal with frightening world events.
As events of violence and terrorism are apparently being more regularly reported, an increasing number of children are being affected by exposure to these frightening stories. Many parents are wondering what they can do to protect their children from the effects of...
Why over 100,000 Australian children are on antidepressant medication and what we can do about it.
By Michael Hawton, former teacher, psychologist (MAPS) and Parentshop founder. The startling rise in the number of children on antidepressant medicines which has doubled in the last six years is likely to be related to a recent tendency to blame children’s brains for...
Not succumbing to our own anxiety about risk
By Michael Hawton, former teacher, psychologist (MAPS) and Parentshop founder. In recent times, insurance companies have directly influenced educational systems to make them safer and less risky. Parents have also demanded that pre-schools and early years settings...
