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...
Best Tips for Travelling with a Child with Special Needs
Article courtesy of Lillian Brooks lillian@learningdisabilities.info Are you and the kids craving a holiday? Taking a family vacation can often get pretty complicated, especially if your child has a disability. However, you can ensure everyone’s needs and desires are...
Not Every Act of Meanness is Bullying
One of our jobs is to help children and young people to interpret events proportionally. However, in recent times, I have seen a shift involving the wrong application of words like trauma, depression and bullying. When these very meaningful words are misused, their...
‘Agency’ and ‘limits’ are needed to promote self-regulation and creativity in children
By Michael Hawton, MAPS As The National Quality Standards continue to drive excellency in the early education settings, I have noticed two words being increasingly used around promoting self-regulation and creativeness in children – agency and limits. Agency is being...
