Did you know that the most violent beings on earth are two-year-old children? A parent of one is certainly not shocked to hear this! While gathering information for articles about toddlers, I have discovered desperate posts like this on the Internet, “Two-year-old for sale. Cheap!” In order to parent children under four, adults need to [...]
We hear the warnings: too much screen time causes all kinds of problems for our kids. Obesity, low motivation, anti-social behaviour, reading lags, attention-type disorders or trouble, and addictions to the devices can happen when a young child becomes too attached to screens. Mobile devices can even be fodder for massive tantrums! We can’t blame [...]
This is the information I really wish I had, and desperately needed, when I was pregnant. (This is a picture of me the night I went to a Police reunion concert six days before my due date!) I remember the first time I became pregnant. As an “older mom,” (I was thirty-five) I was very concerned [...]
Do you have a child who is constantly on the go? Here are ten suggestions to making sure they learn to read well. When I was a school counsellor, part of my job was to support teachers who had students that had a hard time sitting still. I encouraged those teachers not to attempt to [...]
I received this note from a female client, which I’d like to share with you (with her permission). I believe what she experienced is so helpful for parents. These are her words, which I have edited: Andrea, the most amazing thing just happened. As you know, I’ve been struggling with my oldest boy’s behaviour: so [...]
Tonight Show funny man, Jimmy Fallon, poured his creative energy into a cute book for toddlers called, Your Baby’s First Word Will Be Dada. Frustrated that his now-two-year-old daughter, Winnie, said, “mama” as her first word, he was determined to change that for his second daughter, Franny. Fallon admitted that it is obvious what this [...]
I believe that clever, positive, neutral phrases can significantly improve toddler cooperation (I call “toddlers” children between one and four-years-old). One day I sat down to write the phrases I have discovered are really helpful for younger toddlers, and ended up with this list of thirty-three parenting gems: Stop Tantrums: 33 Phrases To Use With Toddlers. I [...]
I was looking through the book Baby Care Basics by Dr. Jeremy Friedman and Dr. Natasha Saunders who are pediatricians from The Hospital for Sick Children, and came across an important section entitled, “Interpreting Crying.” Not knowing what to do with a crying baby or child is one of the most stressful experiences a parent [...]
The trick to communicating successfully with three and four year-olds is to be clever, funny, clear, rested, and to have a method to calming yourself down as fast as possible. Children this age are often more aggressive and frustrated than they were as toddlers, so being aware of this and meeting their challenging behaviour with [...]
My phone has been ringing with requests from frustrated parents of four-year-olds—“Help! My child keeps freaking out and nothing I’m doing is working.” To answer this request, I enlisted the help of parenting educator colleagues, Kelly Bartlett and Andy Smithson. There are many factors which conspire to make parenting children of this age particularly challenging: [...]
Andrea Loewen Nair is a counsellor, parenting educator and international media parenting expert based in London, Ontario, Canada. Her therapy background helps parents to understand at a deeper level what to do when kids drift away, behaviour goes wild, buttons are pushed and old negative self-talk gets too loud.
Her goal is to let parents know they are not alone in their struggles and to provide practical help that makes big positive changes. Parenting can be very hard—and Andrea wants to help.
