by Yusra Tarique | Jul 8, 2019 | Child Care, Family, Professional Help |
How to identify if your child is prepared for school and how to prepare your child?
School admission is a very sensitive topic. Parents are often confused as to when to send their children to school and school admission criteria. In our society schools accepts admissions as early as 2.5-3 years. Some schools often ask parents to get their children enrolled even before they are born which seems ridiculous. Hence in the quest of providing the best education to their children, the parents start running in the mad race of school admissions and fulfilling their criteria as early as when the child is 1 or 2 years. They get their children enrolled in playgroups or preparatory schools.
However, it’s always better to initially home school a child until the age of 5 years from a mental health practitioner’s perspective. The first 5 years also the foundation years of a child is the prime time of growth which requires maximum attention and nurturance from parents and caregivers. Love, affection and parental attention are all that a child requires before the age of 4 years. This also develops trust in a child which is the core foundation of all the other relationships in their life. The above-mentioned components play a significant role in personality development in later years. Starting schooling early takes away the opportunity of children to be brought up in good parenting skills. However, homeschooling is very crucial and requires a lot of hard work and practice. Considering the current academic situation in the country this seems almost impossible. So let us review a few goals that can be achieved after which a parent can decide to send their children to school.
The first thing to keep in mind is how ready the child is to leave the home environment and spend a few hours in playgroup or school. Readiness for a structured environment with a bunch of other children ensures a child’s social, emotional and physical development and growth. Research by National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development claims that a child’s performance is at its best when dealt with genuinely concerned teachers and who make sure to provide activities and learning of their interest. Readiness for a school environment can be assessed through checking if your child has spent some time away from you. If yes then how did he handle it? This will give an idea of how the child will respond if sent to school. Hence parents should develop some level of independence in their children in early years.
The second thing to be checked his how independent is the child in his activities. Schools generally focus a lot on art, play and social activities with other children. Play times can be set up with other same age children through which independence and creativity can be developed. This will also help the child to develop social skills like participating in group activities, developing a habit of sharing etc. It is advisable to allow your child to make his small decisions of like what to wear, which colour to wear, what to eat, which cartoon to wear etc.
It is also very important for the child to develop some basic adaptive skills like toilet skills, eating skills, washing his hands before and after meals, dressing and undressing etc. Most of the pre-school teach these strategies to the children since they take students at such an early stage but as mentioned earlier this is required to be done under good parenting skills.
In the end, whatever decision is taken by the parents should be in the best interest of the child.
by Mehwish Mursaleen | Sep 8, 2017 | Child Care, Healthy Relationships, Psychological Problems |
Parental guidance is one of the crucial steps in treating children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) symptoms. Without parental training, a child cannot be treated fully. If you are taking a therapeutic treatment for your ADHD child from a clinical psychologist you would be aware of this fact. Because parents are the first institution, a child learns many things from them, which is apparent in their life ahead. If parents treat their child appropriately in initial childhood years there are reduced chances of developing attention deficits and hyperactivity. Even if the child has developed symptoms, appropriate parental handling can create a difference.
Therapists treating children with ADHD give particular instructions to their parents for how to deal with behavioral issues. However, some of the necessary steps parents can take are mentioned here.
Child’s daily functioning would improve if he/she is provided with proper home base training for instance, train the child regarding mannerism and following rules such as how to sit quietly in a classroom or while studying at home, listen attentively to what is being taught, how to behave with other children, refrain from picking up other’s possessions etc.
Develop your child’s friendship skills e.g., teach the child how he/she needs to behave if he/she wants to make a best friend. Involve the child in play activities or games which require sitting quietly and following rules such as, Ludo, Carom board etc. Tell the child clearly about the consequence when he/she doesn’t wait for the turn. Teach the child how to initiate and end conversations with people if he/she wants to get a friendly response.
Parents must help and encourage their child to practice and develop above-mentioned skills and do provide the child various opportunities so that he/she can acquire a better quality of life.
Encourage the child when he/she does well on tasks and give feedback immediately after completion of a task. It will develop your child’s abilities and help him/her understand the link between his/her own efforts and success.
Some of the helpful tactics parents can apply during their home base training are as follows:
- Create a to-do list of homework and household chores for the child so that he/she can follow it.
- Give your child simple and clear instructions. For example, if you want the child to do homework then Instead of saying “Finish your homework”, you can say what specific things you want him to do such as, “Finish your English lesson. Then write down in a paragraph what you have read. Finally, do your maths sums”.
- Organize your child’s clothes and school work so that they are always in the same place and easy to find.
• Get into a routine. Having a sense of order and routine helps inattentive children stay focused. Follow the same schedule every day. Such as wake-up, brush your teeth, eat breakfast, get dressed, put on your uniform etc.
- Paste the schedule in a central place, such as the main hallway of your house.
- While doing homework, turn off the TV, computer, radio, video games or other distractions.
- Give the child a reward for finishing his/her homework or other responsibilities. You might offer the child to take a trip to the zoo or may offer a chocolate etc.
Do utilize these strategies in your daily routine if you are dealing a child with ADHD. For expert opinion regarding specific behavioral problems of children and guidance on how to deal the specific issues, you can contact us directly.
Written By:
Dr. Mehwish Mursaleen
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology
by Fahad Lauhani | Aug 13, 2017 | Child Care, Family, Healthy Relationships, Relationships |
Child neglect comes in a form of child abuse, and it is actually a lack of meeting the child’s basic needs, which involves the parental/guardian’s failure to provide sufficient health care, supervision, nutrition, protection, their physical, emotional, social, and educational safety needs. In some child neglect cases, it is difficult to recognize, which makes it hard for the mental health care professionals to take early action in protecting the child.
The signs and symptoms of child neglect can be in terms of emotional, behavioral and physical in nature.
- Emotional symptoms involve; isolation, fear, and an inability to trust which can transfer into lifelong psychological consequences including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. Cognitive delay at some level, lower IQ scores, and language difficulties are also related. Individuals who experience parental neglect are more prone to develop antisocial personality traits as they grow up. Parental neglect is often associated with borderline personality disorder, attachment issues, inappropriate modeling of adult behavior, and aggressive temperament.
- Behavioral Consequences: Not all victims of child abuse and child neglect will experience behavioral consequences. However, behavioral problems appear most often in child neglect cases. Child abuse or neglect appears to make the experience difficulties during adolescence. Aggressive behaviors, rebelliousness, hyperactivity, and inattentiveness can be observed.
- Physical health: an individual who experienced abuse or neglect during childhood is more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, lungs disease and liver malfunctioning, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and obesity. Additionally, child maltreatment has been shown to increase adolescent obesity.
Observing one of the signs in a child from the above domains doesn’t confirm that a child is being neglected, though ever notice multiple or relentless signs then it could indicate a serious problem.
Together we can prevent child neglect by identifying circumstances which put parents or caregivers under stress and getting them the right help at the right time.
Written By:
Zohra Batool (M.Phil, Clinical Psychology)
Student Advisor at Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University
Edited By:
Mehwish Mursaleen (Ph.D. Clinical Psychology)
Sr. Psychologist (Consult-a-psychologist.com & iCliniq.com)
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