“Several years ago, I met a 12-year-old boy who had developed severe anxiety following a break-in at his family’s home while they were away on vacation. To cope with his alarm about this intrusion and his worry about a potential recurrence, he became obsessed with home safety, particularly with checking the locks. This developed into […]
As parents and other big people, we want to protect our children from being overwhelmed by life. Life, however, often has another plan. Canada is grieving as we try to make sense of the terrible tragedy that has taken 15 lives of the Humboldt Broncos Junior B hockey team. And our kids are watching and […]
You know how you feel when you have been away from your kids? Maybe it was a long day at the office, or a trip out of town, or even a hospital stay. Your mind becomes full of the thought of what it will be like to reunite with your little one. You imagine the […]
If morning drop-off is an overwhelming time for your child, you may be dealing with separation anxiety. And not only is separation anxiety difficult for your child, it can be really hard for you as a parent too. Tears and outstretched arms can conjure stressful emotions in your body; especially as guilt and empathy come into […]
Sometimes the human brain outsmarts itself. And this is exactly what is happening for children struggling with separation anxiety. It often goes like this. You get them all pumped up for being brave at school drop-off. You remind them that they will get to do all sorts of fun things during the school day like […]
There is nothing like a minor natural disaster scare to get the anxiety flowing! Last night, shortly before midnight, those of us here on the West Coast in Canada experienced an small earthquake – strong enough to wake lots of us from a dead sleep. And strong enough to have our kids awake and asking […]
The other morning, I dropped my two boys off near the entrance of their school and negotiated back into the crazy queue of cars to find a parking spot. Normally, I would have just driven off and to my office at that point. But on this particular morning, I had to come into the school […]
For some children the idea of being left in a classroom with an adult relatively unknown to them is simply going to be too much. If you think this is the case for your child, or if you have just had a very difficult go trying to settle your child into their new classroom, then […]