After a long summer we finally got an evaluation from FIU that confirms that my son has ADHD and ODD. To be honest, even though I had a strong feeling he was going to be diagnosed with this, it's still a lot to swallow. So many thoughts come rushing into my head like:
- Will he be able to handle it and live a happy life?
- Is it my fault?
- Is there something I could have done differently?
- Will he be successful?
My 6yo does not tolerate loud noises or singing. What is going on?
At what age do children understand charity work?
The school is promoting a solidarity campaign in which we are supposed to deliver boxes to needy families with some basic goods. Each member of the family should make an outline of their hand as a symbolic gesture of "giving someone a hand", but my 8yo daughter refuses to do it. She also complained that we never buy her the kinds of biscuits that are in the box. She of course is too young to understand the importance of this, but I got pretty disappointed because I was expecting her to engage. What should I expect at this age?
Do I let my child know that I check their devices?
I am starting to struggle a lot lately with my 11 year old boy. He has always been very affectionate with me and lately he has stopped doing it.
There is a girl at school with whom he talks with a lot on the iPad and that girl has a reputation for being a problem. He doesn't know that I get on his iPad (because he still doesn't have a phone) and check his conversations.
How do I help my daughter move away from thumb sucking?
My daughter (9.5) got an expander at the beginning of the summer and will get braces tomorrow! She is pretty nonchalant about all of it, but the orthodontist told us we need to cut out the thumb sucking.
She still sucks her thumb at night and sometimes but rarely in public as a self-soothing gesture (mostly when she is very tired). How can I help her move away from that?
How do I handle a big, loud and physical tantrum in a healthy way?
Yesterday was my daughter’s first day back at school for the full day 9-4. It was a long day and the first scheduled day like that all summer. She is going through a phase where she only wears dresses. During school she got her dress very dirty. She went to get new clothes from her cubby and when she got there she noticed I packed her a bunch of beautiful t-shirts and pants (because they are clothes I figure we won’t use so they could be at school) she was SO disappointed and cried for a while at school.
When I arrived to pick her up, she was clearly upset with me. Once we got down to the parking garage she let it all out! She said she needed a dress and immediately took off her t-shirt and pushed me, hit me, pulled my hair, and pretended to spit on me. She shared she didn’t like me any more and wanted a new mommy.
Is it normal for my 6yo to get anxious from loud noises, specifically, fire alarms?
My son is 6 years old and ever since he started pre-k he has been scared of the fire alarms. He hates them. It causes him anxiety. It was worse when he was younger but even after a year or so of being in school he still hates them and gets anxious. We talk about it often and tell him what they are for but he still does not like them. Today the teacher wrote to us that he has been covering his ears the past few days and today he said he had a headache and we suspect it's because the school administrator told him this morning there will be a fire alarm. We asked the school admin, at my son’s request, to let him know the day there would be fire drills. Is this normal after so long in school, what else could we tell him?
How do I decide if my 9yo should have a cell phone?
My 9yo daughter is generally a rule follower. Though we are at a more progressive school that discourages the use of social media and phones, it happens. Even some of the most like-minded parents have now allowed their kids to have a phone with limited texting, or facebook for kids, etc. My husband and I don't believe children should be on any screens when it can be helped, but now she is starting to feel left out. Where is the line between ”we choose the best values for our family“ and turning our kid into an outcast?
I am not happy with how my 7yo daughters friends are treating her. Do I intervene?
My 7yo daughter has a friend that she's been friends with since she was 3. We're now close to the family and have a group of friends that we all spend a lot of time with. While I love the girl's parents, the little girl can be quite challenging and frankly disrespectful to her own parents as well as others. My daughter has often had conflicts with her over the years, and we've always guided them to "work it out'“.
However, now things have escalated a bit. On about 3 occasions, this little girl has managed to get about 6-7 other little kids from the group we hang out with to exclude her, shutting her out of rooms, and making fun of her. It's horrible to watch and always ends in tears.
I am in homework hell every day. Help!
We just moved abroad and our things have not arrived. My kids are restless and irritable. How can I manage their big feelings?
We made it to the UK but our goods have not so we have started our life here with a very minimalistic setup made of basic rental furniture but none of our personal things (including toys and books!!!). My son and daughter have been very restless, complaining about everything and struggling at times to get used to their new (boring?) life with none of the things they need to feel at home (except us parents). I have obviously bought a few new toys and books but it's still not their things... School starts on Sept 8th and by then it will have been more than 3 months without school or summer camp. Help?!?
We are on vacation away from home and we are not doing well. HELP!
I am visiting family on the east coast alone with the girls. We’ve been out here for 2 weeks now. Our schedules have definitely been off even though I have tried to maintain them to the best of my ability.
One of my daughters has been beyond attached the whole trip which is not really like her to this extent. I have not even showered alone to give you some understanding. And my other daughter has just woken up upset many days. She is definitely more moody than normal. Not sure which side of her I am going to get throughout the day.
People here parent way differently than I do and standing my ground and maintaining my parenting has taken a lot of effort. I feel like I am riding a two week anxiety wave internally.
How do I help my daughter when she is stuck in an idea or thought?
My daughter has it stuck in her head that she absolutely doesn't like boys. Of course when I ask her why she says, “because they don't have long beautiful hair like girls”. So I say, "wow that's interesting, I choose if I connect with someone based on how kind they are not what they look like" but it falls on deaf ears. Last week we went to a friend's house and they have an 8 year old son. She spent the first 20 minutes there screaming "I hate boys, I never want to play with boys, this is so stupid." It was really embarrassing. Once she finally calmed down she played with him and had a blast. Then this week we met a friend at the pool who has a 4 year old son and she did the exact same thing but this time refused to have anything to do with him and kept yelling at me that I was talking to the Mom and not playing with her (I was doing both). How do I handle this?
How can I explain to my daughters that they are being mean to others?
When my daughters get together they are extremely silly and have so much fun together. The other day we were also with another friend's daughter who is a bit younger, less verbal, just not as strong of a personality. The girls were giggling hysterically and calling her a poopy head, saying they wouldn't share their food with her, etc...all while laughing hysterically. My friend and I are very sensitive about not wanting "mean girl" daughters so help us understand the difference between being silly and not truly trying to be mean and consciously being unkind which I really don't think they were doing.
My daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD. Now what?
We saw a neurologist today and according to the Qbtest they administer to determine ADHD, my daughter was diagnosed with it. They don't feel that it's severe enough to warrant medication but they are going to work with the school to get her a 504.
Is there anything else that I can do on my end to help support her?
I spoke to a friend who used an advocate to guide her through the process (her son also had dyslexia) but is my daughter’s therapist still the right fit for her or does she need something different in your opinion?
My son is bored in class and is given advanced work. Is this ok?
At my son’s Parent Teacher Conference this past February, his Kindergarten teacher told me she saw him getting bored in class because of his ability to understand the concepts so quickly. So she came up with a plan (and I agreed to it), to teach him all Kindergarten level material, and while the other children were working on the sheets (with the teacher’s assistant) she would sit with him and teach him 1st grade reading and math. It worked and he was liking it. Is this the way to do it? Just want to be sure. And then, how should we approach 1st grade now in August?
My daughter insists on being with dad and refuses my attention. How can I help her?
Every morning when my daughter gets up she calls for her daddy who is getting ready for work. When I go in she yells at me, “go away mommy, I hate you, I don’t want you, etc.” I say “wow it seems like you are really disappointed that daddy isn’t available and that’s hard.”
She says “don’t talk to me, I don’t want to hear your voice or anything you say.”
Sometimes she goes as far as slamming the door on me. It’s a horrible way to start the morning.
Why is she doing this and how can we stop it and have a more pleasant morning?
Maybe she will phase out of it??
My 6yo son is constantly whining. Is this normal?
My child is feeling excluded. How can I help them through this?
My 5yo is worried about what her friends will say. Is this normal?
Last week I had her pick out her ballet outfit in the morning so that when she got dressed for dance after school in the parking lot, she wouldn’t be surprised or disappointed. So we got dressed in the outfit she picked out and she noticed her leotard had little sleeves on it…
oh my god - full blown tantrum. So sad so upset “everyone is going to think my leotard is ugly!!!” “They are not going to like it”
Then yesterday morning we were getting ready for school and we packed her favorite meal in the whole wide world, meat sauce and noodles… I told her that was what’s for lunch and she sadly said “oh no please don’t pack that in my lunch anymore, the other kids think it’s yucky, and I don’t want to be the one with a yucky lunch“.
It broke my heart as it is her very favorite to eat. I know social influences will happen all the time but how do I handle these things at 4/5 years old? What do I say?